“These findings add to growing evidence of increased cancer risk in post-Baby Boomer generations, expanding on previous findings of early-onset colorectal cancer and a few obesity-associated cancers to encompass a broader range of cancer types,” Sung said.
It’s a phenomenon being seen close to home by local health care providers.
“We have seen an uptick in the number of younger patients (under the age 50),” said Mary Alliston, manager for oncology support services for the Kettering Health Cancer Center.
Generation X is generally defined as those born from 1965 to 1980 (current 44-59 year-olds), and Millennials as those born between 1981 and 1996 (current to 28-43 year-olds).
A recent study from the American Cancer Society looked at groups of people born between 1920 and 1990 when looking at rates of cancer between 2000 and 2019.
“Birth cohorts, groups of people classified by their birth year, share unique social, economic, political and climate environments, which affect their exposure to cancer risk factors during their crucial developmental years,” Sung said.
For eight types of cancer, researchers found incidence rates increased with each consecutive birth cohort born since approximately 1920, including finding some cancers were diagnosed at a rate two or three times higher for people born in 1990 compared to earlier generations.
Those cancers included pancreatic, kidney and small intestinal cancers in both males and females, along with liver cancer in females, according to the American Cancer Society.
In nine other cancers, the incidence rate was declining for older generations while increasing for younger generations. Those include certain types of breast cancer, uterine corpus cancer, colorectal cancer, non-cardia gastric cancer, gallbladder cancer, ovarian cancer, testicular cancer, anal cancer in male individuals and Kaposi sarcoma in male individuals.
“Although we have identified cancer trends associated with birth years, we don’t yet have a clear explanation for why these rates are rising,” said Sung, who was also the lead author of that study.
Doctors looking at lifestyle factors
While there’s not an explicit cause, doctors are speculating lifestyle factors could be to blame.
Lifestyle factors include eating processed food, eating red meat, decreased sleep, drinking alcohol and smoking or vaping. Other factors could be changes occurring in people’s gut microbiome, to environmental exposure, to chemicals and toxins.
“All of them play a role, and some people are exposed to multiple things,” said Dr. Satheesh Kathula, a Premier Health oncologist and a clinical professor of medicine at Wright State University.
Younger generations may have also been exposed to those factors at an earlier age, Kathula said.
About 42% of cancer cases and 45% of cancer deaths in the U.S. are linked to modifiable risk factors, the American Cancer Society says. This is leading doctors to emphasize prevention through making lifestyle changes.
“You can’t change your genes, but you can change your lifestyle, and that can really go a long way,” Kathula said.
Taking the fear away
Patients shouldn’t lose hope, health providers say.
While there may be a rising incidence of cancer, the rate of cancer deaths is going down. The overall cancer mortality rate in the U.S. has been declining since the early 1990s, resulting in more than 4 million fewer deaths since 1991, the American Cancer Society says.
“We are seeing more and more people successfully make it through treatment and go on and live long, healthy lives,” Alliston said.
When someone receives a cancer diagnosis, usually from their primary care provider, and gets a referral for cancer treatment, a team of doctors, specialists, supportive personnel and more forms, she said.
Everyone’s cancer journey is different, Alliston said, so treatment may just involve surgery, or it could involve chemotherapy, radiation and/or targeted immunotherapies. Some treatments may go quickly, while other cases may be treated more like a chronic illness, where doctors help the patient manage it long-term.
“More often than not, cancer is treatable,” Alliston said.
When patients come to the cancer center, many are apprehensive, she said.
“What we want to do is take that fear and that anxiety and bring it down, help them, provide them with education, provide them with the support team around them, that helps them to understand that they’re in good hands,” Alliston said.
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