NYU Lutheran joins nationwide colon cancer fight
Colon cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in America — right behind prostate and lung cancer in men and breast and lung cancer in women — according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC). In 2014, 137,000 cases of colorectal cancer were diagnosed in the U.S.
In response to the troubling health care crisis, the CDC and the American Cancer Society are redoubling their efforts to combat colon cancer by working together on a campaign called “80 percent by 2018” aimed at increasing the rate in which the at-risk population for colon cancer undergoes colonoscopies and other screenings.
The goal is to get 80 percent of the at-risk population to undergo regular colon cancer screenings by the year 2018, according to officials at NYU Lutheran Family Health Centers in Brooklyn, who signed on to join the campaign on Aug. 27.
The CDC recommends that colon cancer screenings should start at age 50.