Detection rate of colorectal cancer by routine colonoscopy is comparable in patients aged 45-49 and 50-54 years.

OBJECTIVES: Colorectal carcinoma remains one of the most common malignancies worldwide. Colonoscopy screening is most effective for early detection and tumour prevention and is currently recommended in Europe for adults aged over 50 years. However, given that an increasing proportion of patients are diagnosed before the age of 50, we set out to determine the detection rate of colorectal carcinoma in patients younger than 50 years and to determine the best threshold for starting colonoscopy screening. METHODS: Single-centre, retrospective cohort study of all colonoscopies performed, regardless of indication, in our department at a tertiary Swiss university hospital in patients aged ≥18 and <60 years between 2016 and 2021. Colorectal cancer detection rate was calculated per 5-year age group and analysed separately by sex. RESULTS: The current analysis included 2846 colonoscopies performed for any indication. Colorectal carcinoma was found in 5/366 (1.4%) patients aged 45-49 years (3/210 or 1.4% of males and 2/156 or 1.3% of females) and in 9/819 (1.1%) patients aged 50-54 years (5/495 or 1.0% of males and 4/324 or 1.2% of females). Adenomas with high-grade dysplasia were found in 5/366 (1.4%) patients aged 45-49 years and in 11/819 (1.3%) aged 50-54 years; by sex, in 4/210 or 1.9% of males and 1/156 or 0.6% of females aged 45-49 years, and in 6/495 or 1.2% of males and 5/324 or 1.5% of females aged 50-54 years. Detection of adenoma with low-grade dysplasia increased from 14.6% (21/144) at age <30 years to 41% (150/366) at 45-49 years and 43.5% (356/819) at 50-54 years. A similar increasing trend was also seen if we analysed these groups by sex. CONCLUSIONS: The detection rate of colorectal carcinoma, but also adenomas, in our patients aged 45-49 years was similar to that in patients aged over 50, in both sexes. Thus our data are in line with the assumption that lowering the screening age to 45 years might be reasonable from a medical point of view for achieving a reduction in disease-specific mortality by improved screening strategies.

Reduced Regional NREM Sleep Slow-Wave Activity Is Associated With Cognitive Impairment in Parkinson Disease.

Growing evidence implicates a distinct role of disturbed slow-wave sleep in neurodegenerative diseases. Reduced non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep slow-wave activity (SWA), a marker of slow-wave sleep intensity, has been linked with age-related cognitive impairment and Alzheimer disease pathology. However, it remains debated if SWA is associated with cognition in Parkinson disease (PD). Here, we investigated the relationship of regional SWA with cognitive performance in PD. In the present study, 140 non-demented PD patients underwent polysomnography and were administered the Montréal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) to screen for cognitive impairment. We performed spectral analysis of frontal, central, and occipital sleep electroencephalography (EEG) derivations to measure SWA, and spectral power in other frequency bands, which we compared to cognition using linear mixed models. We found that worse MoCA performance was associated with reduced 1-4 Hz SWA in a region-dependent manner (F 2, 687 =11.67, p < 0.001). This effect was driven by reduced regional SWA in the lower delta frequencies, with a strong association of worse MoCA performance with reduced 1-2 Hz SWA (F 2, 687 =18.0, p < 0.001). The association of MoCA with 1-2 Hz SWA (and 1-4 Hz SWA) followed an antero-posterior gradient, with strongest, weaker, and absent associations over frontal (rho = 0.33, p < 0.001), central (rho = 0.28, p < 0.001), and occipital derivations, respectively. Our study shows that cognitive impairment in PD is associated with reduced NREM sleep SWA, predominantly in lower delta frequencies (1-2 Hz) and over frontal regions. This finding suggests a potential role of reduced frontal slow-wave sleep intensity in cognitive impairment in PD.