Incidence of cancer may be increasing among younger adults
The incidence of cancer may be increasing among younger U.S. adult patients, according to a study published in The Lancet Public Health.
In the study, investigators examined population-based cancer registry data from the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries and U.S. National Center for Health Statistics to uncover trends in the incidence and mortality rates of 34 cancer types among U.S. patients aged 25 to 84 years from 2000 to 2019. The patients were divided into various birth cohorts.
The investigators discovered that the incidence rates of 17 of the cancer types such as those of the small intestine, kidney and renal pelvis, pancreas and liver and intrahepatic bile duct increased in successively younger birth cohorts, especially those cohorts born after 1920. Further, the 1990 birth cohort had incidence rates for intestine, kidney and renal pelvis and pancreatic cancers that were two to three times higher compared with the rates observed in the 1955 birth cohort.
Obesity may have played a role in the emerging cancer trends among younger generations, since 10 of the 17 cancer types with increasing incidence rates were related to obesity. The investigators highlighted the need for further research to identify the underlying risk factors associated with the increase in cancer incidence and develop targeted prevention strategies in younger adult patients.
Read more: The Lancet Public Health
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