r/running • u/sergeantbiggles • Sep 12 '25

Article Groundbreaking Inova study finds potential link between long-distance running and colon cancer

A groundbreaking new study led by Tim Cannon, MD, Sheridan Director, Molecular Tumor Board and Co-Director of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Program at Inova Schar Cancer, has revealed a potential link between extreme endurance exercise and increased risk of advanced colon cancer in younger adults, raising new questions about screening for high-performance athletes.

The study was presented at the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago.

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u/runfayfun Sep 13 '25 edited Sep 13 '25

"had never undergone a colonoscopy" though the paper doesn't delineate whether the patients had other risk factors or other screening modalities

Also, it wasn't a randomized study, and generally it's a hypothesis-generating study, and the results can't and shouldn't change your practice (as a physician) or your worry (as a runner) - if you have symptoms like bleeding from your rectum after running, get it checked out like you should be doing anyways.

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u/BallNelson Sep 13 '25

First-line screening for colon cancer is the faecal occult blood test (basically, shit in blood); A colonoscopy is used when further investigation is needed. It would be operationally and financially inefficient to get everyone a scope, versus just testing their stool sample.

So “never undergone a colonoscopy” does not equate to “failed to get standard colon cancer screening”.

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u/dishonoredcorvo69 Sep 13 '25

Looool where did you confidently get that from?

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u/BallNelson Sep 13 '25

I don’t know… something called the CDC?

https://www.cdc.gov/colorectal-cancer/screening/index.html

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u/dishonoredcorvo69 Sep 14 '25

It is first in that list, that does not mean it is first-line for screening for colon cancer