You have bowel cancer

Four words you don’t expect to hear when you’re young.
Yet each year over 1,700 young Australians do.

#Never2Young

It is a common misconception that bowel cancer is ‘an old person’s disease’, but the reality is early-onset bowel cancer is on the rise and you should never be told that ”you’re too young to have bowel cancer”.

Although the majority of newly diagnosed bowel cancer cases occur in people aged 50 years and over, 1 in 9 (11%) Australians diagnosed with bowel cancer are under the age of 50.

No one knows your body better than you, so listen to it and if something isn’t right make an appointment to speak with your GP as soon as possible. 

At Bowel Cancer Australia, we hear from younger people who have experienced challenges in receiving a diagnosis and who find it hard to get information and support that’s relevant to them.

That is why we launched our Never2Young initiative in 2014, which is leading change for people living with early-onset bowel cancer.

This initiative aims to raise community awareness of early-onset bowel cancer, provide better support to young people diagnosed with the disease, as well as give younger people a voice in helping change clinical practice and policy. 

Action on early-onset bowel cancer

It is a common misconception that bowel cancer is ‘an old person’s disease’, but the reality is that you should never be told that you are too young to have bowel cancer.

 

#N2Y Advocacy Agenda

Bowel Cancer Australia’s Never2Young Advocacy Agenda seeks to improve care experiences and health outcomes for younger people by championing –

  • Greater awareness: among the community and health professionals of early-onset bowel cancer.
  • Lower screening age: in response to the increasing rates of bowel cancer in younger people.
  • Prompt GP referral: to a colonoscopy for all younger people who present with symptoms that may be consistent with bowel cancer.
  • Improved pathways: that ensure timely triage, diagnosis and treatment for younger people.
  • Better understanding: the challenges of early-onset bowel cancer to improve and tailor treatment, support and care for younger patients.
  • Further research: into the causes of early-onset bowel cancer, that has the potential to improve survival and/or help build a path toward a cure.

Lived Experiences

Help us to challenge perceptions and create a powerful voice for change by sharing our Never2Young Advocacy Agenda and your lived experience.

Share your Experience

Early-onset bowel cancer

Bowel Cancer Australia’s resource explains how bowel cancer can affect your body, emotions, relationships and daily life. 

Bowel cancer is the deadliest cancer and the seventh underlying cause of death overall for Australians aged 25-44.

1708
people under age of 50 are diagnosed with bowel cancer each year (11.7% of all bowel cancer cases).
288
people under age 50 die from bowel cancer each year (5.8% of all bowel cancer deaths).
50.4 %
of early-onset bowel cancer cases are diagnosed in women.
49.6 %
of early-onset bowel cancer cases are diagnosed in men.
86 %
of people diagnosed with early-onset bowel cancer experience symptoms.

Do not accept “you’re too young to have bowel cancer” as an explanation for your symptoms

Unfortunately, Bowel Cancer Australia regularly receives feedback from younger people diagnosed with early-onset bowel cancer who have initially had their signs and symptoms attributed to haemorrhoids, food intolerances, a normal part of recovery after having a baby, or even just a result of living a hectic lifestyle.

Although many of the symptoms of bowel cancer are common to multiple health concerns, please do not accept “you’re too young to have bowel cancer” as an explanation for your symptoms, ask your GP to be referred for further investigations.

International analysis of nearly 25 million patients younger than 50, across 81 studies, found the most common presenting signs and symptoms of early-onset bowel cancer were blood in the stool, abdominal pain, altered bowel habits, and unexplained weight loss.

Blood in the stool and abdominal pain were associated with a 5 to 54-fold and 1.3 to 6-fold increased likelihood of early-onset bowel cancer, respectively.

The analysis further supports Australian research which found younger people may spend between three months and five years seeing multiple doctors before diagnosis; make ten or more visits to GPs; with time to diagnosis up to 60% longer for younger people who are more likely to be diagnosed in later stages of the disease.

Younger people perceive their GPs’ low suspicion of cancer given their age as an age bias that shapes the nature of clinical assessments, influences the investigations conducted, and referrals given, and creates tensions which obstruct shared decision-making.

Late-stage diagnosis increases the likelihood of aggressive treatment with physical, psychosocial, and quality of life outcomes that are uniquely challenging for people under-50, especially with regards to fertility, ostomy management, career planning, as well as feelings of isolation due to the common misconception that bowel cancer is an older person’s disease.

It is important for younger people and GPs to have a high suspicion of red flag signs and symptoms and to work together to ensure prompt investigations to rule out early-onset bowel cancer as an underlying cause.

  • Bowel cancer is the deadliest cancer for Australians aged 25-44.

  • The risk of being diagnosed with bowel cancer before the age of 40 has more than doubled since the year 2000.

  • Over the past three decades there has been a 266% increase in bowel cancer incidence rates in adolescents and young adults (15-24 years).

  • People born in 1990 onwards have double the risk of colon cancer and quadruple the risk of rectal cancer compared to people born in 1950.

Bowel Cancer Australia recognises lowering the screening guidelines is one step forward for people aged 40 and older, but it doesn’t address the rising rates of early-onset bowel cancer. 

Early-onset initiatives

Call on Canberra

In June each year advocates from across the country descend on Australian Parliament House to advocate for change.

Learn More
Never2Young CPD Series

Our Never2Young CPD series aims to overcome perceived age bias by people under age 50 diagnosed with bowel cancer.

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Early-onset guidelines

People diagnosed with early-onset bowel cancer were managed according to clinical practice guidelines that were not age specific – until now!

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Parliamentary Friends

A non-partisan forum for parliamentarians to meet and interact with Bowel Cancer Australia and discuss matters relating to bowel cancer.

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Early-onset research

Rho-associated kinase, is an enzyme that goes into overdrive in people with bowel cancer, accelerating growth and spread of the disease.

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Research Symposium

An Early-Onset  Research Symposium convened to help shape development of a Research Roadmap through shared knowledge and collaborative scientific efforts.

Learn more

Why is bowel cancer in young Australians rising?

Associate Professor Daniel Buchanan, University of Melbourne