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Updated: Mar 9, 2026
Evaluation of Colorectal Cancer Risk and Prevalence by Stool DNA Integrity Detection
Published on: June 8, 2020
The fecal immunochemical test has high accuracy for detecting advanced colorectal neoplasia before age 50
Nam Hee Kim1, Jung Ho Park1, Dong Il Park1
1Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Background:
In contrast to the decreasing incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) in adults ≥50 years, the CRC incidence in young adults <50 years is increasing. The fecal immunochemical test (FIT) may be useful for advanced colorectal neoplasia (ACRN) screening in a young population.
Aims:
To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of FIT in a young population.
Methods:
The diagnostic performance of FIT for detecting ACRN was compared among the following age groups who underwent FIT and colonoscopy as part of a comprehensive health screening program: 30-39, 40-49, and ≥50 years.
Results:
Of 26,316 participants, 464 (1.8%) had ACRN and 805 (3.1%) showed positive FIT results. No significant differences in the sensitivity (22.1%, 17.2%, and 22.0%; p=0.435) and specificity (97.2%, 97.4%, and 96.9%; p=0.344) of FIT for detecting ACRN were observed among the groups. However, 30-39 age group had a significantly higher accuracy of FIT for ACRN (96.7%) than 40-49 and ≥50 age groups (95.9% and 93.8%; p<0.001). The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves of FIT for ACRN of three age groups were not significantly different (67.2, 66.2, and 61.7; p=0.952).
Conclusions:
The diagnostic performance of FIT for ACRN in a young population (<50 years) was not inferior to that in the current screening-age population (≥50 years). The FIT may be a good choice for detecting ACRN in a young population.
