A new study by Brigham and Women’s Hospital has found that early-onset cancers have become more common among adults under the age of 50 over the last few decades.
As published in Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology, the authors revealed their data showing a birth cohort effect, in which successive groups of people born at a later time develop a higher risk of cancer.
The study involved the analysis of global data of 14 different cancer types from 2000 to 2012 among adults younger than 50.
“Increased use of screening programmes has contributed to this phenomenon to a certain extent, although a genuine increase in the incidence of early-onset forms of several cancer types also seems to have emerged,” according to the study’s authors. “Evidence suggests an aetiological role of risk factor exposures in early life and young adulthood.”
“In this Review, we describe changes in the incidence of early-onset cancers globally and suggest measures that are likely to reduce the burden of cancers and other chronic non-communicable diseases,” the authors explained in their study.
The research was conducted alongside experts from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
