The data shows a sharp increase in young people being diagnosed with cancer, particularly in high-income countries, including the United States and Western Europe. According to experts, the cause is to be found in a series of factors, such as poor eating habits (diets rich in red meat and low in fruit), alcohol consumption and smoking.
Cases of cancer in young people continue to rise increase worldwide, with the highest rates in high-income countries, including the United States and Western Europe. This is shown by data from multiple studies, indirectly confirmed by the many diagnoses which we are becoming aware of and which, more and more often, affect people under 50. One above all, the recent story of Kate Middleton, who at 42 years old he found out he had cancer after a abdominal surgery: the Princess of Wales’ announcement has in fact brought attention back to this trend, raising doubts and questions about why young people increasingly fall ill with cancer.
According to experts, the reason is to be found in a series of factors, although some clues as to the causes come from the most frequently diagnosed types of cancer. The cases of colorectal cancerin particular, are among those for whom a more significant increase was observed, leading many researchers to believe that changes in eating habits (diets high in red meat and low in fruit, or high in sodium and low in milk, etc.) and childhood obesity are at least part of the problem. But also other types of cancer, such as breast cancer and lung cancerare on the rise, suggesting that increased alcohol consumption, smoking and exposure to higher levels of pollution are also among the culprits.
Because cancer increasingly affects young people
The increase in cancer cases in young people is increasingly solid evidence, which has been observed for about three decades: the reason for this constant increase does not yet have a definitive explanation, but seems to reflect a combination of several environmental and individual factors . “Those who contribute most, such as rising obesity rates and early screeningdo not fully take the increase into account – highlights a recent article Published on Nature – . Several scientists are looking for answers in the gut microbiome or in the genome of the tumors themselves, but many others think that the answers are still buried in the studies that have monitored the life and the health of children born half a century ago”.
Because cancer increasingly affects young people
This means that if the increase in cancer cases in young people were due to a single cause, this would have clearly emerged from the studies, but the heterogeneity of tumors combined with factors such as improving screening techniques e environmental determinantssuch as pollution of air, water and land, along with changes in nutrition e in lifestyles started in the middle of the last century contribute to the problem.
Left, relative change in incidence (A), death (B), and disability-adjusted life years (C) of early-onset cancers from 1990 to 2019, and age-standardized incidence rate (D), rate age-standardized mortality rate (E), age-standardized disability-adjusted life years rate (F) in 2019 / Credit: BMJ Oncology
The data, on the other hand, shows a sharp increase in cases of early-onset cancers – diagnosed cancers in people under 50. From 1990 to 2019, second one of the largest and most recent oncology studies globally published in the journal BMJ Oncologythe incidence of early onset cancers increased by 79%with higher rates in high-income countries, including the United States, Australia and Western Europe.
In the USA, second SEER data (Surveillance , Epidemiology, and End Results) cancer rates diagnosed under age 40 grew by 35% from 1975 to 2019, while in the U.K i dati del Cancer Research UK show a 22% increase in the under 50s since the beginning of the 90s. In Italyaccording to the latest report “Cancer numbers in Italy” of the Italian Association of Medical Oncology (AIOM), there were 395 thousand cancer cases in 2023 – 208 thousand in men and 187 thousand in women – in all age groups, 18,000 more than in 2020, with an increase in older patients young.
What are the cancers that affect young people
Globally, analyzes of the incidence of cancer in people under 50 show that Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed type of canceralthough rates of nasopharyngeal and prostate cancer recorded a more rapid increasing trend between 1990 and 2019. Also in 2019, in addition to breast cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer and stomach cancerwere those with the highest disease burden, although their incidence varied widely between different regions.
Distribution of cases and deaths for early-onset cancers of different systems in 1990 and 2019. Early-onset cancer types in bold are the top three / Credit: BMJ Oncology
“These variations – the authors of the analysis specified – can be ascribed to the local environment, lifestyle and level of medical care available. For example, in North America, Australasia and highly developed Western Europe, ASIRs in 2019 were above 125 per 100,000, while the lowest were in Western Sub-Saharan Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. -Central Saharan (”.
Regard Italywhere the cancer numbers do not explain the incidence in young people, the most frequent diagnoses concern breast cancer (55,900 cases in all age groups), followed by colorectal cancer (50.500), lung cancer (44.000), to the prostate (41.100) e to the bladder (29,700), with a trend destined to increase in the next two decades, on average by 1.3% each year in men and by 0.6% in women.