Over recent decades, more and more adults under the age of 50 are developing cancer. A study conducted by researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital reveals 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 an effort to understand why many more younger individuals are being diagnosed with cancer, scientists conducted extensive analyses of available data in the literature and online, including information on early life exposures that might have contributed to this trend. Results are published in Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology.
“From our data, we observed something called the birth cohort effect. This effect shows that each successive group of people 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,” explained Shuji Ogino, MD, PhD, a professor and
— source Brigham and Women’s Hospital | Sep 6, 2022