The number of new cases of early-onset cancer has increased by 79% in 30 years
Researchers have identified an increase in the number of cancers diagnosed between the ages of 14 and 49.An international team of researchers has studied the dynamics of early cancer diagnoses and related deaths worldwide. The analysis showed that in people between the ages of 14 and 49, the number of annually diagnosed new cases of cancer nearly doubled over thirty years, and deaths increased by a quarter.
Scientists used data from the Global Burden of Disease study for 2019 for the analysis. This is an international WHO project that combines data from around the world. In their work, the researchers looked at new cases (incidence), number of deaths, health outcomes (disability-adjusted life years) and risk factors for 29 types of cancer in 204 countries and regions.
The analysis showed that in 2019, the number of new cancer diagnoses among those under 50 years of age was 3.26 million. This was a 79.1% increase from the 1990 study. Deaths from early-onset cancer increased by 27.7% over the same period. All rates were calculated on a per 100,000 population basis, so population growth did not cause this trend.
Breast cancer had the highest number of cases and associated deaths, with 13.7 patients and 3.5 deaths per 100,000 population. But new cases of tracheal and prostate cancer with early onset grew fastest, with annual increases of 2.28% and 2.23%, respectively. Meanwhile, the incidence rate of early-onset liver cancer declined by about 2.88% each year.
The data show that the major risk factors underlying the most common early-onset cancers are diets high in red meat and salt and low in fruit and dairy, alcohol use and tobacco use. Contributing factors include physical activity, being overweight and high blood sugar levels.
The researchers recognize that a limitation of the study is the variability in the data collected across countries and the difficulty in quantifying the completeness of the data. Therefore, underreporting and incomplete diagnosis in individual countries may have led to underestimation of morbidity and mortality from early-onset cancers. But even the results emphasize the importance of early diagnosis.