Global study says many cancers on the rise among adults of all ages |Medpage Today

Researchers suggest a possible link to obesity trends

- The incidence of certain cancers increased in more than 75% of countries between 2003 and 2017.

- The increase was very similar to adults of all ages, except for colorectal cancer, which increased more among young adults.

- Rising global obesity rates may be a driving factor, researchers suggested.

In the last two years, it will be possible to treat many cancers in all ages, according to international studies.

From 2003 to 2017, six out of 13 estimated cancer incidence rates increased among young adults (ages 20-49) in more than 75% of the countries studied, Amy Berrington de Gonzalez, DPhil, Sutton Cancer Institute, England, and colleagues reported in the International Annals of Internal Medicine.

The sharpest uptick was for thyroid cancer, with a median average annual percentage change (AAPC) of 3.57%, followed by kidney cancer (AAPC 2.21%), endometrial cancer (AAPC 1.66%), colorectal cancer (AAPC 1.45%), breast cancer (AAPC 0.89%), and leukemia (AAPC 0.78%).

Apart from colon cancer, the incidence of these cancers has also increased among adults aged 50 and over in most countries: thyroid cancer (AAPC 3%), kidney cancer (AAPC 1.65%), endometrial cancer (1.20%), breast cancer (0.86%) and leukemia (0.61%).There was a moderate increase in the incidence of colon cancer (AAPC 0.37%) in about half of the 42 countries assessed.

Kanoria, MD, editorial, Health Center, Dothan, a health system journal, both in Philadelphia and in recent decades in Hutbia Dushanbe, Pennsylvania, observed "[o ➢ the number of adult cancers in the past decade."However, the current findings show an "increase in seroma across the spectrum of adulthood."

Cann and Dotan noted that with this trend of increasing cancer incidence across all ages, the projected global economic impact is "significant" at over $25 trillion over the next 30 years."Increased costs, combined with an expected smaller supply of oncology providers, will put significant pressure on access to oncology care."

"We consider the need for additional development of these two groups of patients," they added. The development is more challenging and impactful."

Understanding the driving force behind cancer should be the focus of future research, said Cancy and Dotan, because it was beyond the scope of the current analysis.

Berrington de Gonzalez and co-authors suggested that rising global obesity rates may be one of these drivers.

"The cancer types that we identified as increasing in younger and older adults in the majority of countries were all related to obesity and included some of those most strongly related to obesity, such as endometrial and kidney cancer, although some other obesity-related cancer types, such as stomach and esophageal cancer, decreased in younger adults in more than half the countries. Another exception was breast cancer, for which obesity is associated with lower risk in premenopausal women," the researchers noted.

"A formal analysis of obesity or other risk factors in these rising cancer rates is warranted and requires long-term national survey data," they wrote.

For the international comparative analysis, the researchers obtained data from the IARC GLOBOCAN Cancer Overtime database, which included all countries with cancer incidence data for the 15-year period 2003-2017, including 42 countries in Asia (n=11), Europe (n=22), Africa (n=1), North and South America (n=6) and Australia.The latest data for most countries is from 2017, they said.

Data for 13 types of cancer: leukemia and breast, rangextrid, liver, liver, stomach, stomach, stomach, stomach, stomach esophagus, stomach, stomach, stomach and strength.

Various countries have "spandian" which corresponds to cancer trends between adults and old.Structural cancer is an opportunity, with a greater incidence in young adults than in older adults at 69%;This difference is significant in 38% of countries.

The increase in the incidence of colorectal cancer among young people "raises the possibility that a specific age may be considered to reverse this trend," the editors wrote."It has been suggested that exposure to environmental carcinogens early in life and changes in the microbiome may lead to early carcinogenesis."

In young adults, more than half of the countries showed reductions in liver (AAPC -0.14%), oral (AAPC -0.42%), esophageal (AAPC -0.92%) and stomach (AAPC -1.62%) cancers.

Rates of stomach (AAPC -2.05%) and esophageal cancer (AAPC -0.25%) decreased among older adults in more than half of the countries, while rates of liver (AAPC 2.17%) and oral cancer (AAPC 0.49%) increased.

The incidence of cancer was also "similar" between men and women, the researchers said.

The lack of data after 2017 and the inclusion of predominantly high-income countries are some of the limitations of the study.