HMN 2026: How Certain demographic, birth, and parental characteristics may increase risk of early-onset colorectal cancer

A recent study has found that factors such as a person’s birth weight, sex, ethnicity and father’s age may affect their risk of being diagnosed with colorectal cancer at a young age. The findings are published in Cancer.

In the study of 1,221 people born and diagnosed with early-onset colorectal cancer—defined as being diagnosed before age 50—in California in 1988–2021, and 61,050 matched individuals without cancer, men had a 34% higher risk of early-onset colorectal cancer compared with women. Additionally, Hispanic ethnicity was linked with a 43% higher risk compared with white ethnicity. Having a foreign-born mother was associated with a 15% lower risk of early-onset colorectal cancer.

Among females, every 500 grams (17.6 ounces) increase in birth weight was associated with a 10% increase in early-onset colorectal cancer risk, and having a father age 35 or older was associated with a 56% higher risk. Investigators did not observe any links between early-onset colorectal cancer risk and other demographic, birth and parental characteristics.

Additional research is needed to uncover potential mechanisms behind these associations.

“Evaluating demographic, birth and parental characteristics is important in understanding what’s causing the rising incidence of early-onset colorectal cancer,” said lead author Sunny Siddique, MPH, Ph.D., of the Yale School of Public Health. “Our findings warrant future studies aimed at understanding the mechanisms through which factors such as male sex, Hispanic ethnicity, birth weight, maternal birthplace and paternal age may influence the risk of early-onset colorectal cancer.”

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