Diet and lifestyle factors in early-onset colorectal cancer
Compares eating and lifestyle habits of adults with early colorectal cancer against healthy people.
Plain-language title generated from the registry record
Registry title: Exogenous and Endogenous Risk Factors for Early-onset Colorectal Cancer
Key facts
- Where
- Milan, ItalySee the site
AI summary: who the study is looking for
From the trial's eligibility criteria. Machine-read from the registry text on this page, so it can be wrong. The registry text below and the trial team decide who can take part.
The trial is looking for adults under 50 who recently had early-onset colorectal cancer, and for healthy volunteers of similar age and sex without a history of cancer.
- Age
- 18 to 49 years.
- Sex
- All sexes can join.
- Disease stage
- People with colorectal cancer diagnosed between 18 and 49 years, confirmed by tissue examination (biopsy or surgery specimen). Cases were diagnosed within the last 2 years.
- Biomarker or test result
- Healthy volunteers need a negative stool blood test (fecal occult blood test) or a negative colonoscopy.
Main reasons for not taking part
- Colorectal cancer diagnosed at age 50 or older
- Diseases that can change the diet, such as celiac disease or diabetes
- Past or recent inflammatory bowel disease, or past pelvic irradiation
- Unable to give written consent and fill in the electronic questionnaire
Read by machine on 12 November 2026.
Could this be for you?
Answer for yourself. This is not a decision: only the study team can say whether you can take part.
- Are you between 18 and 49 years old?
Source: NCT05732623, who can take part
Where in Italy
- Prof Giulia Martina Cavestro, MD PhDMilan, ItalyContact: Giulia Martina Cavestro, MD, PhDTaking people
Questions to ask the study team
- How often do I need to come in, and for how long each time?
- Are travel costs paid?
- Can I keep my own doctor?
- What happens if I want to stop?
Contact the study team: see the registry record → Contacts and Locations
Print a page for my doctorTrial details
- Who runs it
- San Raffaele University
- Trial code
- NCT05732623
- Record updated
- 24 April 2026
- Original description
An increase in early-onset colorectal cancers (eoCRC), defined as a CRC before 50 years, is confirmed globally.Read full original descriptionShow less
Diet obEsity sMoking Epigenetics geneTics biomaRkers Physical Activity: An International Multicenter Case-control Study on Endogenous and Exogenous Risk Factors in Early-onset Colorectal Cancer
An increase in early-onset colorectal cancers (eoCRC), defined as a CRC before 50 years, is confirmed globally.
CRC pathogenesis has been associated with several risk factors (family history, germline pathogenic variants, obesity, alcohol, physical activity, red meat, and a Western diet).
Design: an international, multicenter, retrospective case-control study of prospectively enrolled patients; low-risk intervention study as it will perform a fecal occult blood test Endpoint: predictive power of a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (SQFFQ) developed for eoCRC.
Cases: Patients with a recent diagnosis of eoCRC (within 2 years from enrollment).
Controls: matched by age (matching range ± 5 years) and sex. Healthy volunteers will be mainly enrolled among workers within the participating hospital center. The enrolled healthy volunteers will perform a fecal occult blood test.
Variables of interest: age, sex, ethnicity, BMI at the time of eoCRC diagnosis and at 18 years old, country, tobacco smoking at the time of eoCRC diagnosis and at 18 years old, sitting time, TV-viewing time, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), waist circumference (cm), home blood pressure levels (mmHg), fasting blood glucose (mg/dl), regular consumption of aspirin/NSAID, calcium and folate supplements, oral contraceptive agents, post-menopausal hormones and years of consumptions, if the filled questionnaire reflects diet for the last 5-10 years before.
Cases only: date of eoCRC diagnosis, symptoms at diagnosis, eoCRC localization, eoCRC stage, histological diagnosis, type of surgery, and date (if performed), chemotherapy and radiotherapy (if performed), vital status and duration of follow-up, family history of CRC and other cancers (uterus, ovary, stomach, small intestine, urinary tract/bladder/kidney, bile ducts, brain, pancreas, skin tumors), type of germline pathogenetic variant (if performed).
Before the case-control study, three non-consecutive 24-hour Dietary Recalls (24hDRs) will validate the SQFFQ.
The SQFFQ will be administered to the validation study group during three non-consecutive calls, including one non-weekday (30-minute 24-h-recall computer-aided personal interview).
Primary Objective To measure the relative risk of specific dietary and lifestyle factors (smoking habit, alcohol intake, physical activity) for early-onset colorectal cancer in countries where eoCRC incidence is increasing versus stable/decreasing
Inclusion: All sexes eligible; (for Cases) eoCRC diagnosed between 18 and 49 years and confirmed by histology (biopsy or surgical specimen in case of surgery); (for Controls) negative past and present history of cancer; negative fecal occult blood test (FOBT), or negative colonoscopy.
Exclusion: Diseases that can modify the dietary regimen (celiac disease, diabetes); Diseases that are known to predispose to eoCRC (personal past or recent history of inflammatory bowel disease, past history of pelvic irradiation); CRC diagnosed at ≥ 50 years; Unable to give written consents and to fill in the electronic questionnaire.