Analysis of cancers occurring before the age of 50 and explores what might be driving changes in the number of new cases.

The majority of cancers occur among those over the age of 50. However, in recent years, researchers around the world including the UK, US, Australia and parts of Europe have reported a shift where more cancers are being diagnosed in people under 50. These are commonly referred to as ‘early-onset’ cancers. This doesn’t mean cancer is suddenly common in young people. Age is still the most important risk factor for cancer overall. Although the average age of diagnosis for cancer overall differs by country, the median or average age of diagnosis in developed countries is above the age of 60. Average age at diagnosis also differs by where in the body the cancer develops, which is commonly referred to as ‘cancer site’ or ‘site-specific cancer’. At the same time, evidence suggests that more new cases are being diagnosed among those younger than 50 for several site-specific cancers. Furthermore, incidence rates are higher among this group now compared with those who were in the same age group in previous decades. In short, we are seeing increasing numbers of some cancers among younger people. To understand why this might be happening, World Cancer Research Fund International analysed how the absolute numbers of 12 site-specific cancers changed between 2000 and 2023 in the United States and the Netherlands, and 2021 and 2023 in England among those under 50 years of age. For each country, we also explored incidence rates for the first and last years – 2000 and 2023 for the US and Netherlands and 2001 and 2023 for England – for each site-specific cancer. Finally, we reviewed the published evidence related to what might be driving changes in the number of cases of cancer in the last few decades.

Links:
Are more young people getting cancer?

Early-onset cancer data