The fresh face of cancer: younger and female

More and more Americans are surviving cancer, but the disease is more likely to affect adolescent people and adults, as well as middle-aged women Reported by the American Cancer Society on Thursday.

And despite overall improvements in survival rates, blacks and Native Americans die from some cancers at two to three times the rate of white Americans.

These trends represent a stark change for a disease that has long been considered a disease of aging and that previously affected many more men than women.

These changes reflect failing rates of smoking-related and prostate cancer among older men and a disturbing enhance in cancer rates among people born after the 1950s.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, but the leading cause of death among Americans under 85 years of age. The fresh report shows that there will be approximately 2,041,910 fresh cases this year and 618,120 Americans will die from the disease.

Six of the 10 most common cancers, including breast and uterine cancer, are on the rise. The number of cases of colorectal cancer in people under 65 years of age, as well as prostate cancer, melanoma and pancreatic cancer, is also increasing.

“These adverse trends are skewed toward women,” said Rebecca L. Siegel, an epidemiologist at the American Cancer Society and first author of the report.

“Of all the cancers that are on the rise, some are increasing in men, but the picture is uneven, with a greater enhance in women.”

Women are also diagnosed at a younger age. The number of cancer cases is increasing among women under 50 years of age (so-called early-onset cancer), as well as among women aged 50 to 64.

Despite increases in the incidence of some early-onset cancers, such as colorectal cancer and testicular cancer, “the overall incidence remains stable in men under 50 and declines in men aged 50 to 64,” Ms. Siegel said.

The report highlights several other disturbing trends. One is an enhance in fresh cases of cervical cancer – a disease widely considered preventable in the United States – among women aged 30 to 44.

The incidence of cervical cancer has declined dramatically since the mid-1970s, when Pap smear screening to detect precancerous lesions became widely available. However, recent studies have shown that many women postpone visits to the gynecologist.

A Harris Poll of more than 1,100 American women conducted last year for BD, a health technology company, found that 72 percent said they had put off a doctor’s visit that would have included screening tests; half said they didn’t know how often they should be screened for cervical cancer.

(The current recommendation is a bit complicated: get a smear every three years starting at age 21, or every five years for a combined smear and test for human papillomavirus, which can cause cervical cancer).

Another disturbing trend began in 2021, when for the first time the incidence of lung cancer in women under 65 exceeded the incidence of lung cancer in men: 15.7 cases per 100,000 women under 65 compared to 15.4 per 100,000 men.

Lung cancer rates have declined over the past decade, but they are failing more rapidly in men. Women started smoking later than men and took longer to quit.

Smoking rates also rose among people born after 1965, a year after the Surgeon General first warned that cigarettes caused cancer.

According to the American Cancer Society, smoking continues to be the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. In 2025, there will be almost 500 cancer deaths per day, mainly due to lung cancer.

“There is growing concern that e-cigarettes and vaping may contribute to this burden in the future, given their carcinogenic potential and high popularity,” the report said.

Breast cancer rates have also been on the rise for many years, increasing by approximately 1 percent annually between 2012 and 2021. The sharpest increases were seen in women under 50, and acute increases were seen among Latinos, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. women.

The increases are due to the detection of localized cancers and some hormone-induced cancers.

Some of the enhance is due to changing fertility patterns. Having children and breastfeeding protect against breast cancer, but an increasing number of American women are delaying childbirth or choosing not to have children at all.

Other risk factors include genetics, family history and excessive drinking – a habit that increases in women under 50. In older women, excess body weight may play a role in cancer risk.

The ACS says uterine cancer is the only cancer for which survival has actually declined over the past 40 years.

The number of deaths due to liver cancer in women and oral cancer in both sexes is also increasing.

For several decades, the incidence of pancreatic cancer has been increasing among both men and women. It is currently the third most common cause of cancer death. Like many other cancers, obesity is thought to contribute.

Little progress has been made in understanding and treating pancreatic cancer. Since records began, the number of deaths has been increasing and now stands at 13 per 100,000 men and 10 per 100,000 women, compared with about 5 per 100,000 men and women in the 1930s.

The lack of progress has frustrated many scientists and doctors. The cancer is often quite advanced when diagnosed, with a five-year survival rate of just 13 percent.

“We need to make progress, especially in understanding what causes pancreatic cancers, what treatments will prevent them, what can prevent them in the first place and how we can detect them early,” said Dr. Amy Abernethy, an oncologist and co-founder of Highlander Health, which focuses on accelerating clinical trials.

Some experts are beginning to acknowledge that environmental exposures may contribute to the early onset of cancer, in addition to the usual suspects: lifestyle, genetics and family history.

“I think that the enhance in the incidence of not just one but many different cancers in younger people, especially adolescent women, suggests that there is something broader going on than differences in individual genetics or population genetics,” said Neil Iyengar, an oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

“This strongly raises the possibility that environmental exposures and our lifestyles in the U.S. are contributing to an enhance in cancer rates in younger people.”

He noted that public health efforts to reduce risky lifestyle behaviors have focused on higher-risk people and older Americans, who continue to bear the greatest burden of cancer.

However, risk factors in adolescent people may be different.

Recent research shows that, for example, regular sleep may also facilitate prevent cancer, he added.

Ms. Siegel stated that lifestyle and behavioral changes can reduce the risk of many cancers.

“I don’t think people realize how much control they have over their cancer risk,” she said. “We can all do so much. Don’t smoke, that’s the most essential thing.”

Among other things: Maintaining proper body weight; not drinking alcohol or drinking it in moderation; eating a diet luxurious in fruits and vegetables and low in red and processed meat; physical activity; and regular cancer screenings.

“There are many things you can do, but they are individual choices, so pick one to focus on,” she said. “Petite changes can make a difference.”