2024-08-01 16:44:41
Generation X and millennials are at a higher risk of developing certain cancers and dying from them compared to previous generations.
Researchers at the American Cancer Society (ACS), who announced the results of a large-scale study on the 31st (local time), studied 34 types of cancer among 23 million patients born between 1920 and 1990 who were diagnosed with cancer from 2000 to 2019. The results showed that the younger generation was at a higher risk of developing 17 types of cancer and had a higher risk of dying from five of them.
Cancers that were more common among Gen Xers (born 1965–1980) and Millennials (born 1981–1996) included two types of stomach cancer, small bowel cancer, estrogen receptor-positive (ER-positive) breast cancer, ovarian cancer, liver cancer, bile duct cancer, colon cancer, uterine cancer, testicular cancer, gallbladder cancer, kidney cancer, pancreatic cancer, and two types of blood cancers (multiple myeloma and leukemia).
Studies show that some types of oral and throat cancer in women, anal cancer in men, and Kaposi’s sarcoma in men are increasingly being diagnosed at younger ages than in previous generations.
The cancers with the fastest increasing incidence among younger generations were pancreatic, kidney, small intestine, liver, and thyroid cancer in women, with kidney and small intestine cancer rates tripling in people born in 1990 compared to people born in 1955. The liver cancer rate was also three times higher in millennial women than in baby boomer women.
Among young men, the incidence of anal cancer and Kaposi’s sarcoma was found to be higher.
Studies show that cancer rates increase with each generation.
Dr. William Dahut, an oncologist and chief scientific officer for the American Cancer Society, told ABC News that there may be something different about the biology of cancer in younger patients, and that “we probably need to think about different ways to screen for these cancers.”
“The risk increases from baby boomers to Gen Xers and from Gen Xers to millennials,” Dr. Ahmedine Jemil, a cancer epidemiologist with ACS, told USA Today.
Researchers haven’t yet determined exactly why cancer is on the rise among Gen Xers and Millennials, but there are several theories.
Health experts point to environmental and lifestyle factors as the reasons why cancer rates continue to rise among younger generations. They also point out that mortality rates are increasing because patients and health care providers neglect screening for these cancers and ignore symptoms and signs.
Professor Timothy Rebeck, a cancer prevention expert at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a world-renowned cancer research institute affiliated with Harvard Medical School in the United States, pointed out that this generation’s early-onset cancer may be due to exposure to poor eating habits, risky lifestyles, and obesity during childhood. In fact, 10 of the cancers mentioned in the study were weight-related, suggesting that this may be related to the rising obesity rate among the younger generation.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), obesity is strongly linked to at least nine cancers, including breast, colon, uterine, gallbladder, stomach, kidney, liver, ovarian, pancreatic, and multiple myeloma, which are reported to occur more frequently in Gen Xers and Millennials.
The five cancers that showed higher mortality rates in younger people also coincide with the cancers that were growing the fastest among young people: liver, uterine, gallbladder, testicular and colon cancers.
Dr. Andrea Cercek, a gastrointestinal oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, told USA Today that early detection is important because all of these cancers tend to be aggressive.
Experts say it’s important to know your family history, monitor potential signs and symptoms, and get regular checkups to prevent cancer.
Reporter Park Hae-sik, Donga.com [email protected]
2024-08-01 16:44:41