The number of severe cases of a painful colon-related condition thought to be a “disease of older adults” are surging among Americans younger than 50.

Based on analysis of more than 5.2 million adult hospitalizations, research led by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Vanderbilt University revealed a 52 percent increase in complicated cases of diverticulitis—an inflammation in the large intestine—from 2005 to 2020.

Among younger U.S. adults, the proportion severe cases—which involved abscesses, perforations or other serious complications—were found to jump from 18.5 percent to 28.2 percent in the time period studied.

Patients with early-onset diverticulitis were also “more likely to undergo colectomy [a surgical procedure to remove all or part of the colon] or percutan

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