Transition from polyp to cancer age-dependent

Transition from polyp to cancer age-dependent
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Men and women with advancedcolorectal polyps have a similar risk of progressing tocolorectal cancer (CRC) and the risk increases with age in bothsexes, according to a study conducted in Germany.
Colorectal polyps (also called adenomas) are found in up to40 percent of adults over 50. Fewer than 5 percent of them turncancerous.
To come up with age- and sex-specific estimates oftransition rates from advanced polyps to CRC, Dr. HermannBrenner from the German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg andcolleagues used combined data from 840,149 screeningcolonoscopies and from national population-based cancerregistries.
They report in the journal Gut that annual transition ratesincrease from 2.6 percent in women aged 55 to 59 years to 5.6percent in women aged 80 and older. For men in these agegroups, transition rates increase from 2.6 percent to 5.1percent.
In their analyses, estimates of 10-year cumulative riskincreased from 25.4 percent at age 55 years to 42.9 percent atage 80 years in women, with corresponding increases from 25.2percent to 39.7 percent in men.
"Our finding that advanced adenoma transition rates arestrongly age-dependent could have important clinicalimplications, possibly including a higher age at firstscreening or differential endoscopy intervals according toage," Brenner and colleagues write.
"However, additional risk factors, such as family historyof CRC, also have to be taken into account," they note.
SOURCE: Gut, November 2007.