The star of “Dawson’s Creek” is dead – and this is what is important to know about the cancer that worries young people

From the fifth place to the first place as a cause of death from cancer

However, beyond the painful personal story, the epidemiological data paint a broad and worrying picture. A comprehensive study published in the medical journal JAMA found that colon and rectal cancer has become the leading cause of cancer death among those under 50 in the United States. This is at a time when the death rates from lung cancer, breast cancer, leukemia and brain tumors have actually been in continuous decline since the nineties.

According to the data, the death rate from colon cancer in young people has increased at a rate of about 1.1% per year since 1990. In just three decades, this cancer climbed from the fifth place to the first place as a cause of death from cancer in this age group. Doctors report that the clinical picture in the field matches the statistics, more young people are diagnosed, and often in advanced stages.

What are the risk factors?

The reasons for the increase are still not entirely clear. The main hypotheses include Western dietary changes, high consumption of processed food and red meat, obesity, a sedentary lifestyle and changes in the composition of gut bacteria. In this, the possibility of environmental exposure to various substances and biological effects that have not yet been identified also arises. However, it is important to emphasize that it is not only people with an unhealthy lifestyle. Even thin, active and sporty young people are sometimes diagnosed with the disease.

One of the significant reasons for the high mortality is late diagnosis. About 75% of young patients are diagnosed when the disease is already widespread. Patients and doctors alike tend to attribute early symptoms to benign problems such as hemorrhoids or irritable bowel syndrome, and not immediately suspect cancer at a young age.

The symptoms that should turn on a red light

Four prominent symptoms have been identified in studies as being particularly common among young people with colon cancer, prolonged abdominal pain, rectal bleeding, persistent diarrhea and iron deficiency anemia. The persistent appearance of one or more of these symptoms requires a visit to the doctor and an investigation, even under the age of 50.

Screening tests are the main tool in the fight against the disease. In the United States and many other countries, the recommendation is to start screening from the age of 45. For those who have a first-degree relative who was diagnosed before the age of 50, it is recommended to start the investigation ten years before the diagnosis age of that relative. The tests include occult blood in the stool and colonoscopy, which allows not only early detection but also the removal of pre-cancerous polyps and thus actual prevention.

In Israel, the national screening program offers a fecal occult blood test for 50 to 74-year-olds free of charge. Colorectal cancer is one of the most common in Israel. Among men it is in third place in frequency, and among women in second place. In terms of mortality, it is a major factor, after lung cancer and in women also after breast cancer.

Among men in Israel, lung cancer is the leading cause of death from cancer, followed by colon cancer and pancreatic cancer. Among women, breast cancer leads in mortality due to its high incidence, followed by lung cancer and colon cancer. The data illustrate how much early detection affects the chances of recovery.

Van der Beek’s death illustrates a complex reality. Despite advances in oncological treatments, tailored chemotherapy, biological drugs and immunotherapy, the disease is still fatal when diagnosed at an advanced stage.

The increase in morbidity among young people changes the rules of the game. Cancer, which used to be seen as a disease of old age, appears more and more among people in their forties and even thirties. The message to doctors and the public is clear, not to ignore persistent symptoms, not to assume that young age protects against cancer, and to take advantage of the screening tests offered.

James van der Beek will be remembered by many as the sensitive boy with the video camera from the fictional town of Capeside. But his personal story, which ended too soon, joins a wider medical warning about a disease that no longer differentiates between ages as it used to be thought.