Here’s another reason for a midlife crisis: Startling new research suggests that Gen X and millennial Americans are at higher risk of developing 17 cancers compared to older generations.
American Cancer Society researchers calculated generational cancer rates based on 23.6 million cancer cases and 7.3 million cancer deaths from 2000 through 2019.
Among the findings: The incidence rate for small intestine, kidney and pancreatic cancers was two to three times higher for people born in the early ’90s than in the late ’50s.
Women born in the late ’50s also fared better than their millennial counterparts with regard to liver cancer and oral and throat cancers caused by factors other than the human papillomavirus.
The analysis was published Wednesday in the Lancet Public Health.
“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,” said lead study author Dr. Hyuna Sung, ACS senior principal scientist of surveillance and health equity science.
Researchers say they don’t have a clear explanation for why these rates are rising, though they noted that 10 of the 17 cancers on the upswing in younger generations are obesity-related.
“The data highlights the critical need to identify and address underlying risk factors in Gen X and millennial populations to inform prevention strategies,” said senior study author Dr. Ahmedin Jemal, ACS senior vice president, surveillance and health equity science.
The ACS recently declared that 40% of cancer cases and nearly half of cancer deaths in American adults 30 and older could be prevented with a lifestyle change like losing weight or quitting smoking.
The World Health Organization predicts over 35 million new cancer cases in 2050, a 77% increase from the estimated 20 million cases in 2022.
The 17 cancers with increasing incidence in younger generations
- Colorectal
- Endometrial
- Gallbladder
- Kidney
- Pancreas
- Myeloma (cancer of plasma cells)
- Non-cardia gastric (a type of stomach cancer)
- Testicular
- Leukemia
- Gastric cardia (where the esophagus and stomach meet)
- Small intestine
- Estrogen receptor positive breast cancer
- Ovarian
- Liver cancer in women
- Non-HPV-associated oral and throat cancers in women
- Anus cancer in men
- Kaposi sarcoma (a rare type of soft tissue tumor) in men
