A COMMENT in a July 4 ABC News item by Australian colorectal surgeon Dr Carina Chow caught my eye. She stated that Bowel Cancer Australia figures suggest that during the past three decades bowel cancer incidence rates in 15 to 24-year-olds have jumped 266 percent.
To someone outside the medical world this seemed striking, but some further investigation reveals this to be a common trend in most developed nations, especially in young adults aged 20-39 years.
While bowel (colorectal) cancer remains predominantly a disease of the older (50+ years) population, such increases among…
