A growing body of research shows cancer rates are on the rise in adults younger than 50. In response, many oncologists have pointed to the need for more awareness across the healthcare continuum, stronger care coordination on the primary care side to ensure early detection and treatment, and continued research investments to pinpoint what's behind rising rates.
The American Cancer Society projects the U.S. will see a record high of more than 2 million new cancer diagnoses this year. A growing proportion of new cases are early-onset. The rate among people younger than 50 jumped nearly 13% to 107.8 per 100,000 population from 2000 to 2019. Cancer still strikes people 65 and older far more often, though experts are closely following evolving trends to better identify who may be at high risk for early-onset disease.
Here are four studies and trends related to increasing cancer rates Becker's has covered this year:
- Studies have shown that younger patients with symptoms of colon cancer face a longer time to diagnosis than older patients, which underscores how, for many young patients and their providers, cancer is still not considered to be in the realm of likely possibilities. Last spring, the ACS published a report that showed symptomatic patients younger than 50 faced a 40% longer time to diagnosis compared to older adults, which researchers attributed to misdiagnosis with more common conditions.
- Researchers continue to study what factors may be driving rising cancer rates. More inactive lifestyles, exposure to new toxins and ultra-processed foods are among key factors experts suspect are contributing to increased cancer risks for younger generations. In February, a study published in the British Medical Journal found ultra-processed foods were linked to 32 adverse health conditions, including cancer.
"There is something about our lifestyle that is driving this, but exactly what it is remains unknown, and maybe a combination of a whole lot of things that are compounded and leading to higher development of cancer," Sonia Kupfer, MD, who leads the gastrointestinal cancer risk and prevention clinic at UChicago Medicine, told Becker's in February. "The way in which we are going to combat these trends is we have to find out why they are happening. … What environmental factors are we being exposed to? Can we identify them and reduce those for the population?"
- Accelerated biological aging may also be a factor in rising cancer rates among younger adults, recent findings from researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggest. To conduct the study, researchers used nine blood biomarkers to calculate a person's biological age. People born in or after 1965 were 17% more likely to demonstrate accelerated aging than those born earlier, and accelerated aging was tied to an increased risk for cancer, the findings showed.
- In revealing a cancer diagnosis March 22, Kate Middelton said the cancer was detected following a surgical procedure for a condition that, at the time, was thought to be non-cancerous — something oncologists say they encounter frequently.
"Unfortunately, so much of the cancer we diagnose is unexpected," Elena Ratner, MD, a gynecologist at Yale Cancer Center in New Haven, Conn., told The New York Times.