A new study on cancer records from 44 countries has shown that the incidence of what experts call “early cancer,” that is, among people under 50 years old, is rapidly increasing, particularly among types of cancer that affect the digestive system.
The authors of the study say that this increase among younger adults is partly due to testing, which is becoming increasingly sensitive for some types of cancer, such as thyroid cancer, for example. But clearly, more effective tests do not fully explain the trend. There is a mix of risk factors that are working together, some that are known and others that need to be investigated.
Among the known risk factors are obesity, sedentary lifestyle, diabetes, alcohol, smoking, environmental pollution, and Western diets rich in red meat and added sugars combined with many hours of work and little sleep.
The increase in early colorectal cancer has been particularly pronounced.
The study found that the annual average of colorectal cancer in young adults was about 2% in the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, and Japan. In the UK, it is nearly 3% per year; in Korea and Ecuador, it is approximately 5% per year.
Between 1988 and 2015, the rates of early colorectal cancer increased from nearly 8 per 100,000 people to almost 13 per 100,000 – a 63% increase, according to another study recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Studies show that about 1 in 10 colorectal cancers in the U.S. is diagnosed in someone between 20 and 50 years old.
The younger you are, the higher the risk
The study also shows that the risk of early cancer increases in each group of people born later, meaning those born in the 1990s have a higher risk of developing early cancer during their lifetime than those born in the 1980s, for example.
Last year, the increase in colon cancer incidence in younger adults led the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force to lower the recommended age for doctors to start requesting preventive screenings to 45 years old.
Source: CNN