Cancers strike more and more frequently, from one generation to the next: a study published in the journal Jama Network Open and conducted by the US National Cancer Institute clearly shows a growing trend, with people from Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980) who present and will present higher incidence rates over time than Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) for various tumors. The study was conducted by Philip Rosenberg and Adalberto Miranda-Filho of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, Biostatistics Branch, National Cancer Institute in Rockville, Maryland and is based on the analysis of data relating to 3.8 million American cancer patients diagnosed between 1992 and 2018 at an age between 35 and 84. Based on this data, the researchers estimated incidence rates for each tumor.
“These findings suggest that, based on current trajectories, cancer incidence in the United States may remain high for decades,” the authors write. Experts have seen that only the incidence of lung and cervical cancers has significantly decreased in Generation X. However, Generation X may experience a greater per capita increase in the incidence of major cancers than any other group born between 1908 and 1964.
Choosing 60 years as the reference age for diagnosis, the experts estimated the incidence of tumors, i.e. the number of new cases per year per 100 thousand individuals of the two generations.
Finally, to reach a general conclusion, the experts used a simple summary measure: the combined incidence of major cancers (20 sites in women and 18 sites in men). Well, it turns out that the increase in cancer incidence among members of Generation X compared to their parents was substantial, especially among Hispanic women (34.9% increase) and men (14.1% increase ). In contrast, the corresponding increases among non-Hispanic white women and men were 15.1% and 11.9%, respectively. Similar results were obtained when comparing Generation X and Baby Boomers. “Our findings are more concerning than previously reported increases in cancer incidence in younger age groups,” the experts conclude.
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