Gen Xers, born between 1965 and 1980, and millennials, born between 1981 and 1996, are at risk for 17 of the 34 existing cancer types, a new study from the American Cancer Society has revealed.
An in-depth analysis of data from more than 23 million cancer patients and more than 7.3 million cancer deaths between 2000 and 2019 unveiled that incidence rates for some cancers — pancreatic, kidney, small intestinal cancers, and female liver cancer — were nearly three times higher for patients born in the 1990s than in 1955, according to the study, published July 31 in The Lancet Public Health.
There were also notable increases among members of these younger generations across breast (estrogen-receptor positive), uterine corpus, colorectal, non-cardia gastric, gallbladder, ovarian, testicular, anal (male), and Kaposi sarcoma (male) cancers.
Mortality rates have also increased along with the rise in cancer rates for female liver cancer, uterine corpus, gallbladder, testicular, and colorectal cancer, according to the study.
The results could be "an early indicator of future cancer burden" nationwide, said Ahmedin Jemal, PhD, lead author of the study and senior vice president of surveillance and health equity science at the American Cancer Society.
"Without effective population-level interventions, and as the elevated risk in younger generations is carried over as individuals age, an overall increase in cancer burden could occur in the future, halting or reversing decades of progress against the disease," Dr. Jemal said in the news release, adding that this study is a call to action to "identify and address underlying risk factors in Gen X and Millennial populations to inform prevention strategies."