To think cancer is rising exponentially in under 55s?

[Peverellshire]

Anecdotes not data, but:

1. Kidney cancer that’s spread - friend - fit, well, 52, diagnosed after routine check for something else. Spread to other organs, no symptoms
2. Triathlete colleague, 52 years. Stomach/ bowel cancer, spread. Diagnosed after, a sudden, violent, stomach upset. Stage 4.
3. Colleague / stage 4 bowel cancer, aged 47, no real symptoms.

Numerous other acquaintances in 50-55 bracket.

Should we have ‘preventative’ MRIs?
To be expected in 50s as old/older?
Does it reflect your experience?

I think that poster's mother might be having false memories. Or just had an official set of friends and acquaintances. I was born in the '50s and I recall a lot of cancer among my mum's friends and acquaintances when I was in my teens. Cancer was very much feared of course, as outcomes were much poorer back then.

You're noticing cancer occurrences now for two reasons. You're reaching the age when cancer starts to occur in your peer group, and the backlog of undiagnosed assumptions during Covid is coming to the fore. And as they were left for so long the outcomes are poorer.

I had kidney cancer in my 30s. No risk factors or family history. Otherwise fit and healthy. I wonder if it's all the chemicals that are in everything?

You maybe right but perhaps for different reasons than you think. Basically I think that the majority are going to get cancer one day unless we die another way first.

So going back over past 100 years, a lot more people would’ve died from things that are now less common/more treatable or preventable so with those minimised nowadays, cancer is the thing that’s getting them. People died from infections, heart disease or in car accidents because drink driving was more common and seatbelts/car seats weren’t compulsory. Less people smoke nowadays.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/articles/causesofdeathover100years/2017-09-18

This is sad but normal

Late 40s/fifties is when this stuff happens

It's known as "sniper alley", if you make it through your fifties, you have a good chance to live to old age

But 50s is where a LOT of shit happens 😞

Honestly it can be a bit of a shocker

I think we are going to see the effect of micro plastics and chemicals/hormones in everything in the next few decades as the 70s kids get old.

I think cancer was far more prevalent then than we knew about. People didn't really talk about "the big C" when your DM was your age.

I can remember when I was at Primary/Middle school, I knew of 3 children who had cancer treatment. One lost an eye, another lost an arm (cancer discovered after a broken arm didn't heal) and another had bone cancer in her leg.
In early adulthood, I worked in a job part of which involved handling death certificates. Virtually every one had some form of cancer listed as primary or secondary cause of death.

That's an overstatement. The huge rise in lifetime risk of cancer to its current one in two in the UK is largely due to the amazing work that's been done in stopping people dying prematurely from heart disease, (and less common causes like road crashes and workplace accidents). More and more people are living to the age where cancer is almost inevitable.

The increase in cancer rates in the under fifties is real, and worrying, but affects much smaller numbers so it's not a big driver of the 1 in 2 figure, whatever Stand Up to Cancer leads you to believe.

@Waitingroompurplecup

i fully agree that pesticides have been a silent killer. And I think it’s been known too long and nothing done about it.

Roundup has only recently been banned….a proven carcinogen which people innocently buy in B&Q. God only knows what farmers have been using

I noticed this with my parents generation. Lots of heart attacks and cancers at this age and then those that made through either unscathed or successfully treated are hitting mid to late 70s now and starting to get health problems again.

I think people are expecting to live longer, and be healthier longer, all while doing things that can cause cancer. They are then shocked that they get it.

There's an interesting blog post about this on the CRUK site if anyone is interested in facts rather than speculation!

I have a different viewpoint with several family and friends of my parents' acquaintance dying of cancer in their 50s a generation ago, and none of my generation. Several have had cancer but none have died. Detection rates and survival rates are much better now. Detection rates are certainly higher now and the incidence may be higher but much of that is due to unhealthy lifestyles. Alcohol, smoking, obesity, lack of exercise, diet. All those are major contributors and have probably replaced a lot of the environmental factors.

UPFs and being overweight has a MASSIVE impact. Even just a little bit overweight increases your chances of cancer - even if you think ‘oh but I don’t look fat’ - if your BMI is over 25 then you have automatically increased your chances of cancer, whether you like it or not, whether you do triathlons/parkrun/swim/whatever. It’s a fact. But so many people are in denial about it and think they’re not overweight and it doesn’t matter, but it really does.

There may well be an increase in certain cancers due due to lifestyle and environmental factors but there is also the fact that we are able to diagnose many more cancers now with more advanced medical technology. MRI machines weren't invented until the 70's. Chemo wasn't introduced till the late 50's. I imagine public awareness was very poor back then as well so far fewer people would have gone to the Dr with a lump or a concern.

A friend of mine has recently died at 69. This person smoked most of their life, drank alcohol frequently, and was a type 2 diabetic who did not stick to any diet. Yet the family were shocked by their diagnosis and death.
Actions have consequences unfortunately.

I feel the same but also agree that once into your 40s/50s, you’re in sniper’s alley.

You don’t notice cancer diagnoses as much until they’re in your peer group.

In our group we have 2 with bowel cancer, one with breast, one with kidney, one with laryngeal, one with pancreatic. Seems a lot, but in terms of numbers, it’s probably just following the statistical likelihood.

Dh is a Dr, he diagnoses bowel cancers. He is definitely diagnosing more and more in the under 60s, it used to be considered a disease of the over 60s. That was why the screening program originally started at age 60.
He went to an interesting talk on this at a medical conference recently. They can only attribute it to diet and lifestyle.

It reflects my experience too, OP.

In the past 12 months:
Colleague, 59, bowel cancer
Friend, 52, breast cancer
Family member, 51, ovarian cancer
Acquaintance, 34, bowel cancer
Aquaintance, 33, cancer (unsure where it started but has spread and is terminal)

All without exception are healthy weight, active non-smokers.

Anecdotal sure, but it wasn’t like this 10 years ago, I don’t think.

Anyone got any stats?

DH is a food scientist and has always been very anti artificial sweeteners as they just haven’t been around long enough to know the full affects and are just totally synthetic. Now the most common one used in the world is being declared as possibly carcinogenic.

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/whos-cancer-research-agency-say-aspartame-sweetener-possible-carcinogen-sources-2023-06-29/

Plus the increase in obesity and longevity.

There has been no significant demographic shift. It's just that as we age we know more and more people who are diagnosed with significant health conditions, including those with exemplary lifestyles.

Are those they see in this category significantly overweight, unfit & unhealthy?

@OddsOn re: my PP.

Interestingly none of my grandparents ever had cancer. The three who've died all died very suddenly, heart attacks and one had a brain hemorrhage. My surviving grandparent who's now 87 has never had any form of cancer.
I've worked in elderly care for a while and I've known various residents who have or who've had some sort of cancer in their lives, one is currently living with skin cancer. It does feel like it's more of a killer in that 40s/50s period.

Annual scans is a terrible idea - scans (slightly but demonstrably) increase your risk of cancer the more you have! I'm a bit shocked this is common practice anywhere, the risks are known. Though in Eastern Europe antibiotics are given for the slightest sniffle so I suppose that tracks.

There has been a significant shift. Each successive cohort has a higher chance of younger onset cancers (see the excellent Cancer Research link above).

I'm normally the first to downplay cancer panic by pointing out that it's largely age-determined, but unfortunately there is a genuine growing trend.