About 1 in 3 Adults Between 50 and 75 Years Old – About 23 Million People – Are Not Getting Tested as RecommendedCarol A. Burke, MD, FACG, ACG President
(Bethesda, MD, Thursday, March 9, 2017) – March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. More than 1,000 groups, including the American College of Gastroenterology and the American Cancer Society, have pledged to work together to increase the nation’s colorectal cancer screening rates and embrace the goal of reaching 80% of Americans screened for colorectal cancer by 2018. If the United States can achieve 80% by 2018, 277,000 cases and 203,000 colorectal cancer deaths would be prevented by 2030.
About 1 in 3 adults between 50 and 75 years old – about 23 million people – are not getting tested as recommended. Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. when men and women are combined, and a cause of considerable suffering among more than 135,000 adults diagnosed with colorectal cancer each year. When adults get screened for colorectal cancer, it can be detected early at a stage when treatment is most likely to be successful, and in some cases, it can be prevented through the detection and removal of precancerous polyps.
The American College of Gastroenterology is a group of physicians committed to improving digestive health and preventing colorectal cancer.