Cancer is now a disease of the young

Cancer is no longer a disease of the elderly, it’s now affecting more and more young people.

More millennials—people aged between 28 and 43—are developing cancers that were once the preserve of the elderly.  The same phenomenon is being seen in the previous Generation X, which covers those born between 1965 and 1980.

Seventeen of the 34 most common cancers—including breast, pancreatic and gastric—are being increasingly seen in younger people, and it can be fatal in those who develop liver, uterine, gallbladder, testicular and colorectal cancers.

Researchers from the American Cancer Society noticed the trend when they analysed data from 23,654,000 cancer cases in the US collected between 2000 to 2019, and it seems to be accelerating.  Cancer cases were up to three times higher in those born in 1990 than in people born in 1955, the baby boomers.

The cancer rate among those born in 1990 was 12 percent higher for ovarian cancer and 169 percent greater compared to those with the lowest incidence of cancer.  Sadly, the rate of deaths was also increasing in the younger age groups.

The researchers don’t know why cancer has become a disease of the young but say that the phenomenon needs to be recognised, and that there needs to be better screening and healthcare support.

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