Jumoke Olasunkanmi
A recent study by the University of Edinburgh and the Zhejiang University School of Medicine in China has revealed a 79 percent hike in new cancer cases among young people under the age of 50.
The researchers said the study, which was done over a 19-year period, 1990 and 2019, identified alcohol, smoking, obesity and red meat diets as contributors to this rate. It, however, noted that genetics may also play a part.
It looked at new cases, deaths, risk factors and health consequences in people aged 14 to 49, was done by analysing data from the Global Burden of Disease 2019 study for 29 cancers in 204 countries and regions. It revealed 3.26 million new cancer diagnoses among under 50s in 2019 alone, a staggering 79.1 percent increase since 1990. Deaths from cancer also rose by 27.7 percent.
Breast cancer accounted for the highest number of cases -13.7 per 100,000 individuals, while windpipe and prostate cancer cases are increasing at the fastest rates; 2.28 and 2.23 percent per year, respectively.
However, early-onset liver cancer cases decreased by 2.88 percent each year, with North American, Australasian and Western European regions with the highest rates of early-onset liver cancer.
Dr. Xue Li of the Centre for Global Health, University of Edinburgh, who authored the research, said that despite the upward trend of early onset liver cancer in the UK from 1990 to 2010, the overall incidence rate remained stable from 2010 to 2019.
“Fortunately, the annual mortality rate from early-onset cancer in the UK has been steadily decreasing, a testament to the outstanding cancer screening and treatment efforts over the past three decades.”
Ironically, the study – published in the BMJ Oncology Journal- came after Cancer Research UK charity proclaimed advances in cancer care have helped to save 1.2 million lives in the UK since 1980.
The charity added that this improvement included an estimate of 560,000 fewer lung cancer deaths, 236,000 deaths from stomach cancer, 224,000 bowel cancer deaths, and 17,000 breast cancer deaths and is due to the progress made in cancer prevention diagnosis and treatment, including improvements in radiotherapy, cancer screening programs, drug development, and gene discoveries.
Senior health information manager at Cancer Research UK, Claire Knight explained that despite research findings, cancer remains ‘primarily a disease of old age’, adding that the cause of rising early onset liver cancer is unclear.
“We need more research to examine the causes of early-onset cancer for specific cancer types, like our BCAN-RAY study that is looking at new ways to identify younger women at higher risk of breast cancer.
”If people are concerned about their cancer risk, there are lots of ways to help reduce this, such as not smoking, maintaining a balanced diet, getting plenty of exercise, and staying safe in the sun.”
Professor of epidemiology at the Institute of Cancer Research, Montserrat Garcia-Closas, also added that the study “seeks to address important questions on global surge in early-onset cancers,” but there are “limitations with the methodology make it unclear what these findings add to current literature.”
