Living in Rural Areas Tied to Lower Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer Survival
By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter
.jpg?width=1200)
FRIDAY, Aug. 30, 2024 -- Patients with early-onset colorectal cancer (EO-CRC) living in rural areas have lower five-year survival rates than their urban-dwelling counterparts, according to a research letter published online Aug. 28 in JAMA Network Open.
Meng-Han Tsai, Ph.D., from the Georgia Prevention Institute at Augusta University, and colleagues examined the associations of EO-CRC mortality with persistent poverty, rurality, and the intersection of persistent poverty and rurality overall and within age groups. The analysis included 58,200 patients with EO-CRC identified from the 2006 to 2015 Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program.
The researchers found that overall, five-year survival was highest for those living in nonpoverty and nonrural areas (72 percent) and lowest for those living in poverty areas regardless of rurality (67 percent). There was some variation by age group (e.g., survival was 64 percent for those aged 20 to 29 years living in impoverished rural areas). Patients with EO-CRC who lived in rural areas alone had a 1.1-fold to 1.4-fold increased risk for CRC death versus patients living in nonrural areas (hazard ratios, 1.35, 1.26, and 1.12 for those aged 20 to 29, 30 to 39, and 40 to 49 years, respectively). For patients living in both poverty and rural areas, there was a 1.1-fold to 1.5-fold increased risk for CRC death versus patients living in nonrural areas (overall: hazard ratio, 1.29), with notably high estimates seen for those aged 30 to 39 years (hazard ratio, 1.51).
"Potential explanations for this association include patients with EO-CRC who lived in rural areas may have been diagnosed with later stage disease more frequently, underinsurance among younger adults, especially in nonexpanded Medicaid states with high rurality, or lower quality treatment received by patients in rural or impoverished areas," the authors write.
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.
© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Posted August 2024
Read this next
Myocardial Fibrosis Linked to Ventricular Arrhythmia in Male Endurance Athletes
TUESDAY, July 22, 2025 -- Myocardial fibrosis is independently associated with the onset of ventricular arrhythmia in male veteran endurance athletes, according to a study...
Digital Model Based on Noninvasive Factors Shows Accuracy for Identifying IBD in Children
TUESDAY, July 22, 2025 -- A model based on noninvasive tests shows high accuracy as a digital tool for the rapid identification of children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)...
Prevalence of Extremely Severe Obesity Increasing in Children
TUESDAY, July 22, 2025 -- From 2008 to 2023, there was an increase in the prevalence of extremely severe obesity in children, especially among older adolescents and non-Hispanic...
More news resources
- FDA Medwatch Drug Alerts
- Daily MedNews
- News for Health Professionals
- New Drug Approvals
- New Drug Applications
- Drug Shortages
- Clinical Trial Results
- Generic Drug Approvals
Subscribe to our newsletter
Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.