According to an international study relayed this Tuesday, September 5, the number of cancers diagnosed in people under 50 worldwide increased by 79% between 1990 and 2019. Premature cancers led to the death of more than a million people each year and this figure is expected to grow by 21% by 2030.
Figures that send shivers down your spine. The number of cancers diagnosed worldwide in people under the age of 50 increased by 79% between 1990 and 2019, according to an international study published on Tuesday. Early cancer cases have jumped in three decades, rising from 1.82 million in 1990 to 3.26 million in 2019.
The number of deaths linked to this pathology increased by 27% over the same period and should increase by 21% by 2030 according to the authors of the survey. In 2019, a total of 1.06 million people died of premature cancer worldwide.
The study, relayed Tuesday in the scientific journal BMJ Oncology, was conducted by the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) and Zhejiang University School of Medicine in Hangzhou (China). It identified 29 types of cancer affecting humans aged 14 to 49 in 204 countries between 1990 and 2019.
Breast cancer tops number of cases and deaths
Leading the most common cancers, that affecting the breast was detected in 13.7 people worldwide per 100,000 inhabitants. It was lethal for 3.5 patients affected on an equal scale, i.e. out of 100,000 inhabitants.
In terms of pathologies that have been increasing the most in recent decades, cases of early-stage trachea and prostate cancers have experienced annual variations of 2.28% and 2.23% respectively. Conversely, cases of early-onset liver cancer have declined by about 2.88% per year.
After breast cancer, the most numerous deaths observed between 1990 and 2019 were linked to cancers of the trachea, lung, stomach and intestine. The most marked increases in the number of deaths over the same period were for people with kidney or ovarian cancer.
Geographical differences
Geographically, the highest rates of premature cancers were recorded in 2019 in North America, Oceania and Western Europe. Concerning the mortality linked to these pathologies, it was higher in Oceania, in Eastern Europe and in Central Asia.
In low- and middle-income countries, early cancers had a much greater impact on women than on men, in terms of poor health and death, the study found.
A 31% increase in cases of early cancers by 2030
According to the researchers, the global number of new cases of early cancers and associated deaths should increase by 31% and 21% respectively by 2030, primarily affecting people in their forties. The latter assured that genetic factors will have a role to play, as well as diets high in red meat and salt but low in fruit and milk.
Among the other causes mentioned to justify this sharp increase over the past three decades, scientists have highlighted the consumption of alcohol and tobacco, physical inactivity, excess weight and hyperglycemia.
“Encouraging a healthy lifestyle, including a healthy diet, restriction of tobacco and alcohol intake, and appropriate outdoor activity, may reduce the burden of early cancers,” said the study authors, including the remarks were relayed by The Guardian.