Cancer diagnosis rates rising faster among Gen X than previous generations
Gen X is experiencing larger cancer incidence increases than generations before it, according to a new analysis published Monday in JAMA Network Open [1].
Increases among this group (born between 1965 to 1980) are “substantial” when compared to the baby boomers who came before them (1936 to 1960). For instance, Gen X Hispanic women have seen a nearly 35% increase in cancer incidence while Latino men have recorded a 14% uptick.
The findings are based on an analysis of data from 3.8 million individuals with invasive cancer.
“The substantial increases we identified in Generation X versus both the baby boomers and their proxy parents surprised us,” lead author Philip S. Rosenberg, PhD, principal investigator at the National Cancer Institute, wrote June 10. “Numerous preventable causes of cancer have been identified. Cancer control initiatives have led to substantial declines in tobacco consumption. Screening is well accepted for precancerous lesions of the colon, rectum, cervix, uterus and breast. However, other suspected carcinogenic exposures are increasing.”
For the study, Rosenberg and the NCI’s Adalberto Miranda-Filho, PhD, gathered data from the institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program spanning 1992-2018. They used a tool called the age-period-cohort model to project cancer incidence among the varying generations.
When comparing Gen X and baby boomers at age 60, cancers with increasing incidence have negated gains recorded among other types of the disease. Among female Gen Xers, drops in lung and cervical cancer have been overtaken by increases in disease of the thyroid, kidney, rectum, uterus, colon, pancreas and ovaries, along with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and leukemia. For males, declines in disease of the lung, liver and gallbladder, along with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, have been offset by upticks in cases related to the thyroid, kidney, rectum, colon and prostate, along with leukemia.
“Many of the cancers that are projected to increase are also associated with obesity and sedentary lifestyle, two risk factors that have been increasing over the lifespan of Gen X,” the National Cancer Institute said in a June 10 summary of the study findings. “If current trajectories continue, cancer incidence in the U.S. could remain high for decades.”
Radiologic diagnoses also have become more common following “widespread deployment of sophisticated imaging technologies,” the authors noted. This is especially true for cancers of the thyroid and kidney, potentially propelling the Gen X incidence numbers upward.
Rosenberg and Miranda-Filho also speculated about what these trends may mean for the 72 million millennials when they enter their 40s, 50s and 60s. Reducing tobacco and alcohol use, along with increasing physical activity, healthy eating and breastfeeding, have proven to curb cancer. But these benefits appear elusive for many Americans.
“This increase is concerning because of shared cancer-predisposing lifestyle factors and exposures. On the other hand, thanks to the global investment in cancer research, there are tremendous opportunities to prospectively reduce the millennials’ future cancer burden,” the authors wrote. “Taken together, these findings indicate that for many people in the U.S., a healthy lifestyle remains, to various degrees, an unattainable privilege rather than a fundamental right,” they added later. “The extent to which lifestyle disparities explain rising generational cancer rates in our data and falling life expectancies in other studies is unclear and, in our view, merits further study.”
The analysis was limited by its reliance on projections derived from modeling. Read much more in JAMA at the link below.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.