Although the US Preventive Services Task Force updated its recommendation in 2021 to lower the age at which patients should begin screening for colorectal cancer to 45, the American College of Physicians continues to recommend screening starting at age 50.

In an interview with HCPLive at the 2024 American College of Physicians (ACP) Internal Medicine Meeting in Boston, Timothy Wilt, MD, MPH, professor of medicine and public health in the division of general internal medicine at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System, explained the potential benefits versus harms of screening at different ages.

“ACP believes and looks at the evidence and says that the best balance of benefits and harms is beginning screening at age 50 and that clinicians should consider recommending against not screening at age 45 because it would be a better benefit by allocating resources and screening decisions to those at greatest risk and with greatest certainty,” he said.

Looking beyond optimal timing to begin screening, Wilt also discussed when it may be appropriate for patients to “focus on some other things” as they get older, highlighting a decreasing risk of developing cancer and benefiting from screening decrease with age.

Read the full article here: https://www.hcplive.com/view/timothy-...

Hear more from Wilt: https://www.hcplive.com/view/timothy-...

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