{"entity":{"id":"paper-fournier-early-onset-colorectal-switzerland-ejc-2026","kind":"paper","name":"Rising early-onset colorectal cancer in Switzerland despite declining incidence in older adults: a nationwide population-based study, 1980-2021","aka":[],"tldr":"Bowel cancer is becoming less common in older Swiss adults and slowly more common in adults under 50, where more of it is in the rectum and more is found at stage IV.","summary":"A nationwide study, led from the Geneva Cancer Registry on the national dataset of the NKRS, of every adult diagnosed with a first colorectal adenocarcinoma in Switzerland from 1980 to 2021. Rates were standardised to the 1976 European population, trends estimated by joinpoint regression and five-year net survival by the Pohar-Perme method.","asOf":"2026-11-03","links":[{"label":"European Journal of Cancer 2026","url":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejca.2026.116707"},{"label":"PubMed","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41946179/"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":["colorectal"],"sections":["early-detection"],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":["nkrs-nicer","hug-geneva"],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":["katharina-staehelin"],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"journal":"European Journal of Cancer","year":2026,"doi":"10.1016/j.ejca.2026.116707","pmid":"41946179","authors":"Fournier E, Schaffar R, Staehelin K, Rouxel N, Ris F, et al.","paperType":"observational","findings":["Of 96,410 patients, 5,928 (6.1 per cent) were under 50.","Early-onset incidence rose steadily: annual per cent change +0.46 in men and +0.49 in women, driven by rectal cancers and, in young women, proximal colon cancers; incidence in older adults declined after the mid-2000s.","From 2010 to 2021, 27.7 per cent of early-onset cancers were UICC stage IV, against 22.1 per cent at ages 50-74 and 19.4 per cent at 75 and over.","Five-year net survival in under-50s peaked at 76.9 per cent for men (2010) and 78.2 per cent for women (2007)."],"whatItMeans":"Swiss screening starts at 50; the authors call for prevention, awareness and screening strategies adapted to younger adults.","caveats":["Stage data were harmonised only from 2010."],"participants":96410},"route":"/key-papers/paper-fournier-early-onset-colorectal-switzerland-ejc-2026/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"colorectal","kind":"cancer","name":"Colorectal cancer","route":"/cancers/colorectal/"}],"section":[{"id":"early-detection","kind":"section","name":"Early Detection & Screening","route":"/fronts/early-detection/"}],"institution":[{"id":"hug-geneva","kind":"institution","name":"Geneva University Hospitals (HUG)","route":"/institutions/hug-geneva/"},{"id":"nkrs-nicer","kind":"institution","name":"National Agency for Cancer Registration (NKRS) / NICER","route":"/institutions/nkrs-nicer/"}],"person":[{"id":"katharina-staehelin","kind":"person","name":"Katharina Staehelin","route":"/people/katharina-staehelin/"}]}}