Study: Cancer Hits Young People Hard
The newspaper “The Times” stated that cancer is not rare, and half of us experience it in our lifetime, but it rarely affects individuals who are physically fit, as shown by the case of Amira Wells, Kate Middleton, 42 years old, whose announcement of her cancer diagnosis was shocking due to her young age.
According to the newspaper, a recent study revealed an increase in the number of young people, those under the age of fifty, affected by cancer, reaching 3.29 million cases worldwide. It cited experts suggesting that the increase in diagnoses could be attributed to obesity, alcohol, smoking, as well as changes in diet and the “microbiome,” the microbes living inside the human body.
Out of 375,000 new cancer cases in the UK each year, only one in ten cases is currently among those under fifty, but this pattern is changing with a growing wave of cancer “in its early appearance”.
Research indicates that an additional 10,000 adults aged 18 to 49 are diagnosed with cancer each year in the UK compared to the 1990s, a trend reflected worldwide.
Professor Helen Coleman from Queen’s University Belfast said: “We are seeing an increase in most types of cancer, and in all younger age groups. What is concerning is that cancer types seem to be changing in this age group, reflecting more than what we would usually expect to see in older people.”
Coleman added, “Colon cancer is the one causing the most concern worldwide; because we have not usually seen it in this age group before.”
The newspaper pointed out that cancer is not anyone’s fault, and that increased awareness among individuals of cancer symptoms and the desire for screening, as well as advances in technology, have contributed to diagnosing cancer in people in their forties, which was previously impossible to detect before the age of fifty.
It noted that treating this group, under the age of fifty, poses a challenge for doctors and therapists because chemotherapy and radiation, which can result in sterility and affect patients’ fertility, make managing the side effects of the disease more difficult.
Despite the increase in cases, deaths remain relatively low among patients under the age of fifty and can often benefit from more targeted or intensive treatment.
