Dr. Shah on Risk Factors for Early-Onset CRC

Manish A. Shah, MD, director of gastrointestinal oncology, Weill Cornell Medicine/New York-Presbyterian Hospital, discusses risk factors for patients with early-onset colorectal cancer (CRC).

Tobacco use, alcohol use, diabetes, and obesity are risk factors that were investigated in both traditional CRC and early-onset CRC. It was discovered that in older patients the risk factors were found; however, this was not seen in younger patients with CRC, explains Shah.

According to Shah, this led researchers to believe that early-onset CRC could have a different biology compared with traditional CRC.