Generation X and millennials face a higher risk of contracting certain types of cancer compared to previous generations, according to a major new study published Wednesday.
In the study, published in the Lancet Public Health magazine, researchers from the American Cancer Society (ACS) studied 34 of the most common cancers. They found that cancer incidence rates continued to rise in progressively younger generations for 17 cancers, including breast, pancreatic and gastric cancer.
For eight of the 17 cancers, the researchers found that cancer incidence rates have increased for each successive birth cohort since 1920. For nine of them, incidence rates increased in the youngest cohorts, after first decreasing in the oldest birth cohorts. old.
“These findings add to the growing evidence of increased cancer risk in post-Baby Boomer generations, expanding previous findings of early-onset colorectal cancer and some cancers associated with obesity to encompass a broader range of cancer types.” , said Hyuna Sung, lead author. of the study, she said in a statement.
The study highlighted the need to identify and address “underlying risk factors in Gen X and Millennial populations” to explain and address these rising cancer rates in younger generations, said Ahmedin Jemal, senior author of the study.
“Birth cohorts, groups of people classified by year of birth, share unique social, economic, political and climatic environments, which affect their exposure to cancer risk factors during their crucial developmental years,” Sung added.
“Although we have identified cancer trends associated with birth years, we still do not have a clear explanation of why these rates are increasing,” Sung added.
The study was conducted using data from more than 23 million patients diagnosed with 34 types of cancer during the period beginning January 1, 2000, and ending December 31, 2019. The study also analyzed mortality data from more than 7 million deaths from 25 types of cancer during the same time period. All individuals were between 25 and 84 years old.
The researchers then calculated incidence rates for each birth cohort, adjusted for “age effect and period effect.”
The cancer incidence rate for the youngest birth cohort, 1990, ranged from 12 percent higher than the birth cohort with the lowest rate, for ovarian cancer, to 169 percent higher than the birth cohort with the lowest rate of uterine cancer.
The cancer incidence rate was also two to three times higher in the 1990 birth cohort than in the 1955 birth cohort for pancreatic, kidney, and small bowel cancers.
Jemal warned about the implications of this increase in cancer rates.
“Increasing cancer rates among this younger group of people indicates generational changes in cancer risk and often serves as an early indicator of the country’s future cancer burden. Without effective population-level interventions, and as the elevated risk in younger generations continues as individuals age, there could be a global increase in the burden of cancer in the future, halting or reversing decades of progress against the disease.”
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