Colorectal cancer has become the leading cause of cancer death among people under 50 in the United States, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on 22 January 2026. The analysis of National Cancer Institute data from 1990 to 2023 showed that colorectal cancer deaths in this age group rose annually by 1% since 2005, surpassing other major causes of cancer mortality.
Lung cancer deaths declined from first to fourth place, and leukemia deaths dropped from third to fifth, while breast cancer remained the second-leading cause of cancer death overall. The rise in colorectal cancer deaths occurred despite increasing incidence rates for some other cancers, such as breast cancer and leukemia, which saw declining death rates. The study found that colorectal cancer was the only major cause of cancer death in people under 50 to increase in mortality, with the shift occurring seven years earlier than previously projected.
The findings were based on data from nearly 1.3 million people under 50 who died of cancer between 1990 and 2023. The American Cancer Society reported that colorectal cancer had risen from fifth to first in ranking among causes of cancer death in this demographic.