Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Feb;24(2):335-41.
doi: 10.1007/s10552-012-0119-3. Epub 2012 Dec 8.

Risk factors for young-onset colorectal cancer

Valentina Rosato  1 , Cristina Bosetti, Fabio Levi, Jerry Polesel, Antonella Zucchetto, Eva Negri, Carlo La Vecchia
Affiliations

Risk factors for young-onset colorectal cancer

Valentina Rosato et al. Cancer Causes Control. 2013 Feb.

Abstract

Purpose: We investigated risk factors for colorectal cancer in early-onset cancers, to provide quantitative estimates for major selected risk factors.

Methods: We analyzed data from three Italian and Swiss case-control studies conducted between 1985 and 2009, including 329 colorectal cancer cases and 1,361 controls aged ≤45 years. We computed odds ratios (ORs) from unconditional logistic regression models, adjusted for major confounding factors.

Results: The OR of young-onset colorectal cancer was 4.50 for family history of colorectal cancer in first-degree relatives, the association being higher in subjects with affected siblings (OR 11.68) than parents (OR 3.75). The ORs of young-onset colorectal cancer were 1.56 for ≥14 drinks/week of alcohol, 1.56 for the highest tertile of processed meat, 0.40 for vegetables, 0.75 for fruit, and 0.78 for fish intake. Among micronutrients, the ORs were 0.52 for β-carotene, 0.68 for vitamin C, 0.38 for vitamin E, and 0.59 for folate. No significant associations emerged for physical activity, overweight, and diabetes.

Conclusions: This study-the largest on young-onset colorectal cancer-confirms that several recognized risk factors for colorectal cancer are also relevant determinants of young-onset colorectal cancer. Family history of colorectal cancer in particular is a stronger risk factor in young subjects, as compared to middle age and elderly ones.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources