More and more types of cancer among people of generations X and Y

A brand new study published within the journal Lancet Public Health reveals that Generation X and millennials are at higher risk of certain types of cancer in comparison with previous generations.

Scientists from the American Cancer Society (ACS) studied more than 30 common cancers. They found that cancer rates were regularly increasing in younger generations for 17 cancers, including breast, pancreatic, and stomach cancer.

The researchers also found that for eight of the 17 cancers studied, cancer rates had shown a rise since 1920. Nine of the 17 cancers showed a rise rates in younger people after a decline in older people. The study’s lead writer, Hyuna Sung, said the outcomes weren’t surprising because evidence had shown similar findings.

“These results support the growing evidence of increased cancer risk in post-baby boomer generations, extending previous findings of early onset of colorectal cancer and several obesity-related cancers to include a broader range of cancer types,” Sung said.

The study pointed to the necessity to discover and combat “underlying risk factors in Generation X and Millennial populations” as a way to explain why the danger of cancer is increasing in younger generationsAmerican Cancer Society chief scientific officer William Dahut cited uterine cancer as one form of cancer with alarming incidence rates.

“Uterine cancer is one of the ones that’s really been striking, where we’re seeing huge increases. It has about a 169% higher rate if you were born in the ’90s compared to someone born in the ’50s — and that’s for people of the same age,” Dahut told CNN.

“People born in the 1950s, when they were in their 30s or 40s, had different rates of disease than people born in the 1990s, when they were in their 30s or 40s.”

The data utilized in the study got here from more than 23 million patients diagnosed with 34 types of cancer between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2019. Mortality data from more than 7 million deaths from 25 types of cancer were also examined over the identical time period with participants aged 25 to 84. The incidence rates of each birth cohort were then calculated and adjusted for “age and period effects.”

For cancers of the pancreas, kidney and small intestine, the speed was nearly two to 3 times higher in each men and women, and for liver cancer in women, the speed was about two to 3 times higher in those born in 1990 compared with those born in 1955. For specific cancers, the speed of ovarian cancer increased by 12% and that of endometrial cancer by 169% compared with the birth cohorts with the bottom incidence rates.

The study’s senior writer, Ahmedin Jemal, issued a stark warning in regards to the rise in cancer cases among young patients.

“The increase in cancer rates among this younger population indicates a generational shift in cancer risk and often serves as an early indicator of the future burden of cancer in the country,” Jemal said.

“Without effective population-level interventions, and because the increased risk in younger generations is being transferred with age, the overall burden of cancer could increase in the future, halting or reversing decades of progress in the fight against this disease.”