Medical Professionals Express Concern as Cancer Rates Surge Unusually Among Younger Individuals

People below the age of 50 are facing an unprecedented rise in cancer diagnoses, leaving medical professionals perplexed about the underlying causes.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, the shocking 2020 death of beloved actor Chadwick Boseman, who succumbed to colorectal cancer at the age of 43, served as a wake-up call to the public regarding a growing trend that researchers had been cautioning about for a decade prior.

"Colorectal cancer was the canary in the coal mine," reflected cancer epidemiologist Timothy Rebbeck of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Subsequently, there was an apparent surge in various types of cancers, many of which are associated with or near the gastrointestinal tract, including appendix, pancreatic, stomach, and uterine cancers.

According to the WSJ, incidents of colorectal cancer in younger individuals have seen a significant increase in recent decades. In 2019, one in five new patients diagnosed with this type of cancer was below 50, a rate that had doubled since 1995, according to an analysis by the American Cancer Society last year.

"We are witnessing more and more young people who don’t fit the classic teaching that cancer is a disease of aging," remarked Monique Gary, the medical director of the cancer program at Pennsylvania's Grand View Health Center, in an interview with the WSJ.

A Personal Struggle: Meilin Keen's Journey

One poignant example is the case of Meilin Keen, a 27-year-old who underwent stomach removal at the end of 2023 following a gastric cancer diagnosis. Keen shared with the newspaper that the brain fog induced by chemotherapy forced her to postpone taking the bar exam, putting her dreams of becoming a lawyer and moving to new york City on hold.

Despite grappling with stomach issues such as acid reflux and heartburn since her teenage years, Keen was understandably taken aback to be diagnosed with cancer in her 20s.

"I didn’t really think that much about cancer until I got it," she revealed to the WSJ. "It messes with your identity."

Understanding the Surge in GI-based Cancers

Cancers related to the gastrointestinal tract, like Keen's, appear to be occurring more frequently among younger populations than other types, and the reasons remain unclear. Various educated speculations range from research into young women's screen time during childhood to factors involving nutrition, diet, and weight. Some studies even suggest a potential link between being born via caesarian section and developing young-onset colorectal cancer.

Despite the ongoing investigations into the causes, doctors are grappling with the surge in cancer diagnoses among the younger demographic. In response to these alarming trends, just a few months after Boseman's death in 2020, the American Cancer Society recommended colon cancer screenings starting at age 45 — though, for individuals like Keen, that age may still be insufficient to detect it early.

"If we’re not understanding what it is now," warned Dr. Kimmie Ng of Dana-Farber to the WSJ, "there’s another whole generation that’s going to be dealing with this."