July 12, 2025 • 7 mins
Colorectal cancer is showing up more often in younger generations, such as millennials. This type of cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death, but it's also easily preventable with regular screenings. It can be challenging for people in underserved communities to get access to these screenings, or even learn about them, so Mass General Brigham is making an effort to get the word out. Dr. Allison Bryant, MGB's Associate Chief Health Equity Officer, returns to the show this week to share information about this important campaign.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each and every week right here, we come together and
talk about all the topics important to you and the
place where you live. It is great to have you
back with us this weekend. I'm Nicole Davis. You might
have heard stories on the news over the past couple
of years about corectal cancer showing up more often in
younger generations like millennials and gen z. Now overall, this
(00:31):
type of cancer is the second leading cause of cancer
deaths in the United States. It's also easily preventable with
regular screenings. Unfortunately, for many reasons, it can be very
challenging for people in underserved communities to get that done.
Earth officials say that then leads to major disparities in
cancer deaths. Mass General Brigham recently launched a new campaign
to try and change that. Doctor Allison Bryant, the Associate
(00:54):
Chief Health Equity Officer at Mass General Brigham, has been
here before. She's back now on the show, Doctor Bryan.
It's great to have you here, and it seems to
me that coorectal cancer is very quickly becoming a major concern,
not just for younger people but overall.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah, Nicole, you're totally right. So right now, the lifetime
incidents or the chance of getting colorectal cancer in the
United States is about four percent, so like one in
twenty five individuals, and this year alone, about more than
fifty thousand people in the United States will lose their
lives to co erectal cancer.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
And so you're right.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
But while overall deaths from colon cancer have been decreasing,
the group that they're on the rise in is really
young people and individuals less than age fifty. And so
we don't know all the reasons for all this increase,
but some things like risk factors might be obesity, what
we call metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure, and even some
dietary influences in physical activity, all of which we know
(01:50):
are changing over time.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Now, are people that are my age, younger people getting
their screenings or if they're not, why are they avoiding it?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Yeah, it's a great question, because the number one way
to prevent colon cancer or to treat it early is
to be screened at a regular basis. And so yes,
many individuals are being screened, but we know that we
can do better. We know that there are differences in
populations in terms of who gets screened and who doesn't,
and so there's probably lots of contributors to that. So
some may be healthcare access, so some individuals may be
(02:22):
or underinsured, may have not have a healthcare provider that
helps to guide them to co erectal cancer screening. There's
also a lot of stigma and fear about the screening itself,
and so we really want to get the word out
about how important it is to be screened.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Yeah, I mean, they can be really overwhelming, they can
feel very invasive. Nobody really wants to have a screening done. Like,
let's be honest about it. Tell us a little bit
more about why that is the best way to know
what's going on.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yeah, I mean, the number one reason to get screened
is to reduce your chance of dying from colorectal cancer.
So colorectal cancer screening works. One thing to say is
that there's a number of different tests that maybe Reckon
mended or engaged in shared decision making with patients, particularly
patients who are at average risk. And so any screening
method that we offer are done with a lot of
(03:09):
sensitivity and a lot of effort to make them as
comfortable and as private as possible, but really to get
you that effective way to prevent cool and cancer.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah, so what age should people start to be concerned
about this and consider signing up for those screenings.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Yeah, A little bit depends on whether there's a family
history or other sort of medical conditions that might increase
the risk. But for most individuals who will be at
average risk, which include those that have no genetic risk
factor or other medical conditions like inflammatory bowel disease for example,
generally we recommend starting screening at age forty five and
continuing through the age of seventy five. It's also super
(03:48):
important that if anyone has any symptoms that are concerning
for colorectal cancer, like blood in the stool or change
in their bowel habits, or unexplained weight loss, it's really
important to go find your health care provider to revere
you those and understand whether testing for co directal cancer
might be right for them.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
And I know a lot of people are worried about
insurance here in Massachusetts. Thankfully we have a system where
most everybody is on insurance, but there are concerns about
copays and not being able to afford it over at
Mass General Brigham, how are you working to try to
help people with those problems.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah, we really try to help with our financial access
counselors and in our primary care doctors' offices to understand
what are the barriers. Some of them may be financial,
as we talked about, some of them maybe otherwise. I
think one of the things that we know is that
there are lots of barriers along the way from saying
you want to get screening, to get all the way
to screening, and so some of our communities that are
(04:41):
particularly underserved or where there may be more social risk,
we're starting programs like navigators and having individuals be at
the elbow support to provide that support to get people
from intent to screening all the way to completing screening.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Now, why are you focusing on co directal cancer so
much right now at Mass General? Why is this important
to you?
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Yeah? I would say that most healthcare systems have really
always had as part of their mission to sort of
reduce mortality from colorectal cancer, and so we are really
leaning into that and also really understanding that again, there
are some populations that are more likely to die from
colorectal cancer and wanted to make sure we have equitable
access for all of those individuals to all the great
(05:22):
screening methods. So we are all in. We've been all
in for a while, but we really have had a
sort of an uptick more recently.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
So how are you doing this? How are you getting
out there into our neighborhoods and reaching out to these
underserved areas.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Yeah, a couple different ways. So one is that we
just in this past month had a communications campaign, so
not just for our patients, but on all patients in
the communities that we serve. Individuals and the communities that
we serve. We wanted to raise awareness and call folks
to action to talk to their healthcare provider about getting
themselves screened. So that looked like billboards in some neighborhoods
(05:55):
or bus ads on the MBTA buses. We're also working
to try to do some pilot programs around that navigation piece,
so in some of our primary care offices and really excitingly,
through our mobile program, our community care vans, we'll start
to have some navigation there so that if individuals come
to those sites and are eligible for screening but need
(06:17):
a little bit of extra help and getting there, we
want to provide that support.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
And has it been successful so far? What are you
seeing on this?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Yeah, so the communications campaign is now completed and we
do think that we've seen some successes there. People have
used the QR code have tried to navigate themselves to
some of our primary care offices, so we're really excited
to see what comes out of that. And then in
the sort of early stages of the pilot programs in
some of our offices, we're seeing high rates of engagement.
(06:44):
So for individuals who we outreach to, many of them
really are interested in getting screened and we're able to
get a large number of them two completed polnoscoppies or
completed school based testing. So we're really excited about that
and trying to scale that up further.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Betiful. So if somebody is listening and they're thinking, Okay,
I'm getting to that age or I'm not really sure
if I'm one at risk, how should people reach out?
What is your advice here to somebody who might be
in that position.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Yeah, our call to action is really to reach out
to your healthcare provider. So primary care providers, specialty providers
should be able to sit and help individuals, understand their risks,
understand the tests that are available to them and recommended
for them, and hopefully get them to those testing. Hopefully
we'll have more things like patient care navigators to really
help those folks who need a little bit of extra
(07:32):
but really, colorectal cancer can be treated if it's caught early,
so we want to make sure everyone has access to
those technologies.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Have a safe and healthy weekend. Please join me again
next week for another edition of the show. I'm Nicole
Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each and every week right here, we come together and
talk about all the topics important to you and the
place where you live. It is great to have you
back with us this weekend. I'm Nicole Davis. You might
have heard stories on the news over the past couple
of years about corectal cancer showing up more often in
younger generations like millennials and gen z. Now overall, this
(00:31):
type of cancer is the second leading cause of cancer
deaths in the United States. It's also easily preventable with
regular screenings. Unfortunately, for many reasons, it can be very
challenging for people in underserved communities to get that done.
Earth officials say that then leads to major disparities in
cancer deaths. Mass General Brigham recently launched a new campaign
to try and change that. Doctor Allison Bryant, the Associate
(00:54):
Chief Health Equity Officer at Mass General Brigham, has been
here before. She's back now on the show, Doctor Bryan.
It's great to have you here, and it seems to
me that coorectal cancer is very quickly becoming a major concern,
not just for younger people but overall.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah, Nicole, you're totally right. So right now, the lifetime
incidents or the chance of getting colorectal cancer in the
United States is about four percent, so like one in
twenty five individuals, and this year alone, about more than
fifty thousand people in the United States will lose their
lives to co erectal cancer.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
And so you're right.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
But while overall deaths from colon cancer have been decreasing,
the group that they're on the rise in is really
young people and individuals less than age fifty. And so
we don't know all the reasons for all this increase,
but some things like risk factors might be obesity, what
we call metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure, and even some
dietary influences in physical activity, all of which we know
(01:50):
are changing over time.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Now, are people that are my age, younger people getting
their screenings or if they're not, why are they avoiding it?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Yeah, it's a great question, because the number one way
to prevent colon cancer or to treat it early is
to be screened at a regular basis. And so yes,
many individuals are being screened, but we know that we
can do better. We know that there are differences in
populations in terms of who gets screened and who doesn't,
and so there's probably lots of contributors to that. So
some may be healthcare access, so some individuals may be
(02:22):
or underinsured, may have not have a healthcare provider that
helps to guide them to co erectal cancer screening. There's
also a lot of stigma and fear about the screening itself,
and so we really want to get the word out
about how important it is to be screened.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Yeah, I mean, they can be really overwhelming, they can
feel very invasive. Nobody really wants to have a screening done. Like,
let's be honest about it. Tell us a little bit
more about why that is the best way to know
what's going on.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yeah, I mean, the number one reason to get screened
is to reduce your chance of dying from colorectal cancer.
So colorectal cancer screening works. One thing to say is
that there's a number of different tests that maybe Reckon
mended or engaged in shared decision making with patients, particularly
patients who are at average risk. And so any screening
method that we offer are done with a lot of
(03:09):
sensitivity and a lot of effort to make them as
comfortable and as private as possible, but really to get
you that effective way to prevent cool and cancer.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah, so what age should people start to be concerned
about this and consider signing up for those screenings.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Yeah, A little bit depends on whether there's a family
history or other sort of medical conditions that might increase
the risk. But for most individuals who will be at
average risk, which include those that have no genetic risk
factor or other medical conditions like inflammatory bowel disease for example,
generally we recommend starting screening at age forty five and
continuing through the age of seventy five. It's also super
(03:48):
important that if anyone has any symptoms that are concerning
for colorectal cancer, like blood in the stool or change
in their bowel habits, or unexplained weight loss, it's really
important to go find your health care provider to revere
you those and understand whether testing for co directal cancer
might be right for them.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
And I know a lot of people are worried about
insurance here in Massachusetts. Thankfully we have a system where
most everybody is on insurance, but there are concerns about
copays and not being able to afford it over at
Mass General Brigham, how are you working to try to
help people with those problems.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah, we really try to help with our financial access
counselors and in our primary care doctors' offices to understand
what are the barriers. Some of them may be financial,
as we talked about, some of them maybe otherwise. I
think one of the things that we know is that
there are lots of barriers along the way from saying
you want to get screening, to get all the way
to screening, and so some of our communities that are
(04:41):
particularly underserved or where there may be more social risk,
we're starting programs like navigators and having individuals be at
the elbow support to provide that support to get people
from intent to screening all the way to completing screening.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Now, why are you focusing on co directal cancer so
much right now at Mass General? Why is this important
to you?
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Yeah? I would say that most healthcare systems have really
always had as part of their mission to sort of
reduce mortality from colorectal cancer, and so we are really
leaning into that and also really understanding that again, there
are some populations that are more likely to die from
colorectal cancer and wanted to make sure we have equitable
access for all of those individuals to all the great
(05:22):
screening methods. So we are all in. We've been all
in for a while, but we really have had a
sort of an uptick more recently.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
So how are you doing this? How are you getting
out there into our neighborhoods and reaching out to these
underserved areas.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Yeah, a couple different ways. So one is that we
just in this past month had a communications campaign, so
not just for our patients, but on all patients in
the communities that we serve. Individuals and the communities that
we serve. We wanted to raise awareness and call folks
to action to talk to their healthcare provider about getting
themselves screened. So that looked like billboards in some neighborhoods
(05:55):
or bus ads on the MBTA buses. We're also working
to try to do some pilot programs around that navigation piece,
so in some of our primary care offices and really excitingly,
through our mobile program, our community care vans, we'll start
to have some navigation there so that if individuals come
to those sites and are eligible for screening but need
(06:17):
a little bit of extra help and getting there, we
want to provide that support.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
And has it been successful so far? What are you
seeing on this?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Yeah, so the communications campaign is now completed and we
do think that we've seen some successes there. People have
used the QR code have tried to navigate themselves to
some of our primary care offices, so we're really excited
to see what comes out of that. And then in
the sort of early stages of the pilot programs in
some of our offices, we're seeing high rates of engagement.
(06:44):
So for individuals who we outreach to, many of them
really are interested in getting screened and we're able to
get a large number of them two completed polnoscoppies or
completed school based testing. So we're really excited about that
and trying to scale that up further.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Betiful. So if somebody is listening and they're thinking, Okay,
I'm getting to that age or I'm not really sure
if I'm one at risk, how should people reach out?
What is your advice here to somebody who might be
in that position.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Yeah, our call to action is really to reach out
to your healthcare provider. So primary care providers, specialty providers
should be able to sit and help individuals, understand their risks,
understand the tests that are available to them and recommended
for them, and hopefully get them to those testing. Hopefully
we'll have more things like patient care navigators to really
help those folks who need a little bit of extra
(07:32):
but really, colorectal cancer can be treated if it's caught early,
so we want to make sure everyone has access to
those technologies.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Have a safe and healthy weekend. Please join me again
next week for another edition of the show. I'm Nicole
Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.
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