SEATTLE — Fans of Chadwick Boseman were shocked to hear the accomplished actor died at the age of 43 after being diagnosed with colon cancer four years ago.
As people continued to grieve Boseman's death over the weekend, a doctor at Swedish Medical Center explained that while the overall rate of colon cancer is decreasing due to improved screening, it is rising in people under the age of 50.
"I've had patients as young as fourteen with colorectal cancer," Dr. Amir Bastawrous said. "That's very rare, but I can tell you in 2020 I've had half a dozen patients under the age of 50 with colorectal cancer. Just me, myself."
Though the stigma behind colon cancer has changed over the years, knowing the risk factors and symptoms is just as important as screening, Dr. Bastawrous said.
"The biggest risk factor would be if you've got a genetic predisposition if you clearly have a gene that predisposes you to colorectal cancer," he said. If that's the case, he recommends people be tested as early as in their 20s. "If you have a first-degree relative that had colon cancer under the age of 50, you'd usually start ten years young than they were when they were diagnosed with colorectal cancer."
Advancements in medicine over the past 20 years have made early detection easier and more important, he said.
"It was still quite, quite difficult to get people to have their screening test even at age fifty, and our rate of screening was in the twenty-five to forty percent range across the country, which is terrible. And now, across the country, there are places that are well over eighty percent screening.
"Here in Washington state we're about sixty-seven percent."