The idea of cancer as predominantly a disease of old age is beginning to creak. An analysis last year showed that, in the G20 group of industrialised nations, rates of several cancers are rising faster among the young than among the old.
Now, scientists at the American Cancer Society have confirmed the trend across a wider range of cancers, with statistics broadly suggesting that a Gen X or Millennial is more likely to develop certain types of the disease than her Baby-boomer parents. Half of the 34 types studied showed a “birth cohort effect”, meaning they are increasingly common among successively younger cohorts. For pancreatic and kidney cancer, for example, the incidence rate among those born in 1990 was two to three times the rate of those born in 1955.
The academics who published their findings in Lancet Public Health last week say these are “generational shifts in cancer risk”. The shifts come with profound implications. A tide of younger patients poses a challenge for future cancer care, whether it is rethinking screening programmes or finding ways to preserve fertility during treatment. As the disease itself metastasises into something unfamiliar, the dream of consigning it to history grows more challenging.