Harvard Researchers Warn That Incidences Of Various Cancers In Young Adults Under the Age Of 50 Are Rising Globally!

Harvard Researchers Warn That Incidences Of Various Cancers In Young Adults Under the Age Of 50 Is Rising Globally!


 
A new study conducted by researchers from Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Massachusetts General Hospital and Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard has found that the incidences of various cancers among young adults under the age of 50 is increasing rapidly globally.
 
The study was also supported by other scientists and professionals from Weill Cornell Medicine-New York, Albert Einstein College of Medicine-New York, The International Agency for Research on Cancer-France and the Dana-Farber Harvard Cancer Center-Boston.

The study findings revealed that the incidence of early onset cancers (those diagnosed before age 50), including cancers of the breast, colon, esophagus, kidney, liver, and pancreas among others, has dramatically increased around the world, with this drastic rise beginning around 1990.
 
In order to comprehend why more younger individuals are being diagnosed with cancer, the study team conducted extensive analyses of available data in the literature and online, including information on early life exposures that might have contributed to this trend.
 
Evidence suggests an aetiological role of risk factor exposures in early life and young adulthood. Since the mid-20th century, substantial multigenerational changes in the exposome have occurred (including changes in diet, lifestyle, obesity, environment and the microbiome, all of which might interact with genomic and/or genetic susceptibilities). However, the effects of individual exposures remain largely unknown. To study early-life exposures and their implications for multiple cancer types will require prospective cohort studies with dedicated biobanking and data collection technologies. Raising awareness among both the public and health-care professionals will also be critical. 
 
The study findings were published in the peer reviewed journal: Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41571-022-00672-8
 
Dr Shuji Ogino, MD, PhD, a professor and physician-scientist in the Department of Pathology at the Brigham told Thailand Medical News, “From our data, we observed something called the birth cohort effect. This effect shows that each successive group of individuals born at a later time (e.g., decade-later) have a higher risk of developing cancer later in life, likely due to risk factors they were exposed to at a young age. We found that this risk is increasing with each generation. For instance, people born in 1960 experienced higher cancer risk before they turn 50 than people born in 1950 and we predict that this risk level will continue to climb in successive generations.”
 
In order to conduct the study, the research team first analyzed global data describing the incidence of 14 different cancer types that showed increased incidence in adults before age 50 from 2000 to 2012.
 
The research team subsequently searched for available studies that examined trends of possible risk factors including early life exposures in the general populations.
 
Lastly, the study team examined the literature describing clinical and biological tumor characteristics of early-onset cancers compared to later-onset cancers diagnosed after age 50.
 
In the detailed review and analysis, the study team found that the early life exposome, which encompasses one’s diet, lifestyle, weight, environmental exposures, and microbiome, has changed substantially in the last several decades.
 
Hence the researchers hypothesized that factors like the westernized diet and lifestyle may be contributing to the early-onset cancer epidemic.
 
The study team acknowledged that this increased incidence of certain cancer types is, in part, due to early detection through cancer screening programs. They couldn’t precisely measure what proportion of this growing prevalence could solely be attributed to screening and early detection. However, they noted that increased incidence of many of the 14 cancer types is unlikely solely due to enhanced screening alone.
 
Other possible risk factors for early-onset cancer included alcohol consumption, sleep deprivation, smoking, obesity, and eating highly processed foods.
 
Interestingly, the study team found that while adult sleep duration hasn’t drastically changed over the several decades, children are getting far less sleep today than they were decades ago.
 
Also risk factors such as highly processed foods, sugary beverages, obesity, type 2 diabetes, sedentary lifestyle, and alcohol consumption have all significantly increased since the 1950s, which the study team speculate has accompanied altered microbiome.
 
The study team said, “Among the 14 cancer types on the rise that we studied, eight were related to the digestive system. The food we eat feeds the microorganisms in our gut. Diet directly affects microbiome composition and eventually these changes can influence disease risk and outcomes.”
 
The study team acknowledged that one limitation of this study is that they did not have an adequate amount of data from low- and middle-income countries to identify trends in cancer incidence over the decades.
 
The study team hope to continue this research by collecting more data and collaborating with international research institutes to better monitor global trends. They also explained the importance of conducting longitudinal cohort studies with parental consent to include young children who may be followed up for several decades.
 
The study team said, “Without such studies, it’s difficult to identify what someone having cancer now did decades ago or when one was a child. Because of this challenge, we aim to run more longitudinal cohort studies in the future where we follow the same cohort of participants over the course of their lives, collecting health data, potentially from electronic health records, and biospecimen at set time points. This is not only more cost effective considering the many cancer types needed to be studied, but we believe it will yield us more accurate insights into cancer risk for generations to come.”
 
Besides the study findings, other statistical data are also showing that cancer incidences are also rising more exponentially in the recent years.
https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.3322/caac.21708
 
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cancer
 
https://www.wcrf.org/cancer-trends/worldwide-cancer-data/
 
https://www.cancer.org/research/cancer-facts-statistics/all-cancer-facts-figures/cancer-facts-figures-2022.html
 
Thailand Medical News also predicts that with the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, more individuals will contract viral related cancers including esophageal cancers, liver cancers, lung cancers, kidney cancers, gastrointestinal cancers and also brain cancers, breast cancers, cervix cancers, testicular cancers and also pancreatic cancers.
 
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