(Mary Altaffer/AP)
By MIKE STOBBE; April 16, 2026 at 12:07 pm EDT
NEW YORK — The worrisome rise in colorectal cancer deaths in younger adults is concentrated in people with less education, suggesting socioeconomic factors could be driving the escalation, according to a new study.
Celebrity deaths — including Chadwick Boseman in 2020 and James Van Der Beek earlier this year — have highlighted the increase in colorectal cancer deaths among younger adults, but the new paper was called the first to parse which people are most affected by the alarming rise.
The researchers found that over the last 30 years, the rise in colorectal cancer deaths in young adults occurred almost entirely among people without a four-year college degree.
