WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - According to a study published in the Lancet Public Health journal, generation X and millennials face higher risk of getting certain cancers when compared to older generations.
Researchers at the American Cancer Society analyzed 34 of the most common cancers in 23 million U.S. patients born between 1920 and 1990.
'The risk is increasing from Baby Boomers to Generation X and from Generation X to Millennials,' said study author Dr. Ahmedin Jemal, a cancer epidemiologist at the ACS.
They found that the younger generations are at a higher risk of developing 17 types of cancers, including breast, pancreatic, gall bladder, ovarian, liver, testicular, and gastric cancers.
'These findings add to growing evidence of increased cancer risk in post-Baby Boomer generations, expanding on previous findings of early-onset colorectal cancer and a few obesity-associated cancers to encompass a broader range of cancer types,' said Hyuna Sung, lead author of the study.
Researchers noted that the incidence rate of kidney and small intestinal cancers was three times higher in people born in 1990 compared to those who were born in 1955.
'Although we have identified cancer trends associated with birth years, we don't yet have a clear explanation for why these rates are rising,' Sung added.
'The increase in cancer rates among this younger group of people indicate generational shifts in cancer risk and often serve as an early indicator of future cancer burden in the country. Without effective population-level interventions, and as the elevated risk in younger generations is carried over as individuals age, an overall increase in cancer burden could occur in the future, halting or reversing decades of progress against the disease,' Jemal warned.
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