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Atlanta physician shares importance of screenings near end of Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month

By
Emily McLeod
Emily McLeod
Multimedia journalist
Emily McLeod is a reporter for CBS Atlanta and joined the team in February 2026.
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Emily McLeod

/ CBS Atlanta

As Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month ends, a metro Atlanta physician is sharing the importance of getting screened and paying attention to possible symptoms.

According to the American Cancer Society, 20 percent of people diagnosed with colorectal cancer were 54 years old or younger in 2019. That's up from 11 percent in 1990.

Jeff Haller, a primary care doctor with Piedmont Physicians of Midtown, said it's not just the fact that they are discovering more cases, but the death rate and stages they are discovering the cancer are also going up among younger patients.

While he said they don't fully understand all the causes, Haller said they do know there is some connection between colon cancer and lifestyle choices.

"The biggest offenders that we want to look at are tobacco use, alcohol intake, sedentary lifestyle and obesity, as well as poor dietary choices, particularly low fiber diets and highly processed diets," Haller said.

Haller said one of the most proactive things people can do is to get screened as early as recommended, and that sometimes symptoms are easily overlooked.

"In a lot of cases and with early stages, particularly these people that we're talking about, because they are younger, you may not have any symptoms whatsoever," Haller said. "So that's important to keep in mind. If you do have symptoms, you want to watch for a change in bowel habits that can be diarrhea, constipation, or a change in the size of your stool. It could be blood in your stool, abdominal discomfort, or pain. As well as just really vague fatigue, tiredness, and even unexplained weight loss. The problem with all of these things is that they're really a lot more common in other conditions."

The American Cancer Society said people who are at an average risk of getting colon cancer should get screened at 45 years old.

Haller encourages anyone with an early or strong family history of colon cancer to talk to their doctor and get screened even earlier. 

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