Breast cancer accounts for the highest proportion. New research: the number of new cancer cases among people under 50 years old in the world has soared
A study published in the latest open journal, British Medical Journal Oncology, showed that in 2019, the number of new cancer cases among people under 50 years old was 1.82 million, an increase of 79% from 1990. Among them, breast cancer patients accounted for the highest proportion.
A study by an international research team from institutions such as Zhejiang University in China and the University of Edinburgh in the UK shows that from 1990 to 2019, the number of new cases of nasopharyngeal cancer and prostate cancer in the population under 50 years old increased the fastest, with estimated annual growth rates of 2.28% and 2.23%, respectively. On the other hand, the estimated annual decrease in new cases of liver cancer among the population under 50 years old is 2.88%.
From the perspective of cancer deaths, in 2019, approximately 1.06 million people under the age of 50 died from cancer, an increase of nearly 28% compared to 1990. In 2019, among people under 50 years old, the cancers that cause the most deaths or cause the greatest health harm after cancer are breast cancer, nasopharyngeal cancer, lung cancer, intestinal cancer and gastric cancer, while the death rate of patients with kidney cancer and ovarian cancer increases the most.
A review article published in the magazine stated that this analysis overturned people's understanding of the types of cancer in people under 50 years old.
Although cancer is more common among the elderly, there is evidence to suggest that since the 1990s, cancer cases have been on the rise in many parts of the world among people under the age of 50. However, most of these studies focus on regional and national differences, and there are few systematic studies from a global perspective or from the perspective of cancer risk factors in people under 50 years old.
In order to fill this gap, the research team used the data of 29 cancers in 204 countries and regions in the 2019 Global Burden of Disease Study to analyze the data of cancer incidence rate, risk factors, death and cancer related life loss of people aged 14 to 49.
From the trend of cancer in this study, the research team estimates that by 2030, the number of new cancer cases and related deaths among the global population under 50 years old will continue to rise, with those aged 40 to 50 at the highest risk.