Cancer risk higher in generations X and Y: The risk increases gradually with each generation

According to research conducted in the USA, Generation X, born between 1965 and 1980, and Generation Y, born between 1981 and 1996, have a higher risk of cancer compared to previous generations.

As part of the research, the findings of which were published in the journal 'The Lancet Public Health', scientists from the American Cancer Society examined the data of more than 23 million patients aged between 25 and 84 who were diagnosed with 34 types of cancer between 2000 and 2019.

Researchers found that Generation X and Generation Y are at an increased risk of developing cancer compared to previous generations for 17 types of cancer, including breast, pancreatic and stomach cancer.

It was also determined that for 8 of the 17 types of cancer, the risk has increased gradually in each generation since 1920.

Researchers noted that those born in 1990 had a 12 percent higher risk of developing ovarian cancer than older people, and reported that the risk of uterine cancer was 169 percent higher than the older generation.

The researchers also noted that people born in 1990 were two to three times more likely to develop pancreatic, kidney and small bowel cancer than those born in 1955.

Ahmedin Cemal, one of the authors of the study, stated that the study emphasizes the need to find the causes and solutions to the increasing cancer risk in generations X and Y.

Warning about the increasing cancer risk in the younger generation, Cemal said, " If effective interventions are not made at the population level and the cancer risk in the young population is carried into the future as people age, we may face a cancer burden that will stop or reverse the progress made against cancer for decades ."