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?

The reason that so many people die of cancer is that they don't die of something else first. A generation or two ago, more of these 50-55 year olds would have died of flu, work related accidents, car crashes, etc. and a generation before that, war. Now with much safer lives, and more vaccinations, and obesity, more people will die of cancer.

As a cancer survivor of many years standing, I can confirm that even years ago, chemotherapy wards were full of this age range above all other. This is the peak age range for needing chemo, and always has been I think

@Iwishthaticouldbelikethecoolkids

3/4 of grandparents died of cancer, this is in the 1990's (the other got a rather violent form of Alzheimer's which I wouldn't wish on any family, 2 or 3 carers needed each time they entered his locked room). Nobody discussed that they had cancer at the time i should add, word not mentioned, I found out by being very nosy, reading notes and putting things together (I was a teenager/young adult). I'm guessing many people died of cancer and their friends didn't get told cause of death (sometimes the patient wasn't told even!)

Not breastfeeding in your 20s increases the breast cancer risk.

So later motherhood as a trend will be increasing BC rates overall.

My parents lost a lot of friends in their 40s (1980s) and 50s (1990s). Some had died in their 30s (1970s). Indeed my dad died of heart disease in his early 50s, and was hospitalised with it in his late 40s. The advice then was to give up smoking and cut saturated fats; his appetite went up and he snacked more and gained more weight.

Causes such as heart disease are better managed to reduce premature deaths and that leaves more candidates avaliable to cancers. I've recently lost 3 relatives in their 80s/ 90s where cancer is involved, but by that age range, one of the body's systems is going to be a weak link at some point anyway. It feels very different to someone in their 30s-60s with a lot of potential ahead and in otherwise good health.

While we are recognising new cancer risks, old ones have already been removed from our lives of become better managed.

Detection and treatments have improved. Diagnosis is more likely to be accurate.

DM has previously said that when she was young in the 1950s, people would sometimes just become ill, fade quite rapidly and the cause wasn't very clear. Even if it had been attributed to cancer, there wasn't the level of treatment and improved outcomes that we have in recent times.

There will be fluctuations over time with lifestyle changes, detection/ treatment protocols but we probably see a clearer picture now than in the past, and there are reductions in other causes of premature deaths.

It's a cause of some rarer colo-rectal cancers- but rates of the most common forms of bowel cancer have increased in men as well as women - the number of men who have sex with men isn't nearly enough to be driving this growth.

It would be great news if that was the cause, because we've fixed it already for the younger generation, but sadly, it's not.

All my GPs would be in that statistic. They all had cancer in their last months but they were all well into their 80s, something's got to get you. In earlier generations some of them would have died younger from something else.

It does seem though that 50s is a very risky decade and if you make it through that you have a good chance of a very long life.

A long time ago now, when I did my degree we looked undertook a study in sweetners and the study was quick shocking in relation to the impact it had on the body, DNA and cancers. It used to be fairly easy to avoid them but the government has actively encouraged their use and it’s much harder to avoid now.

I also worry about the micro plastics. We should be going back to glass bottles and refills as options, remember when you could actually do that?

I have read that there is an increase in certain cancers in younger age groups, such as bowel cancer.

I am 50 and certainly amongst my friends from 40 to early 50s there have been a lot of deaths in the past five years. Mostly cancer. It’s quite frightening. I’ve increased my H’s life insurance!

Oh and all the people I know who died from cancer were active, healthy weight, good diets.

I work in oncology in a nhs hospital. I haven’t noticed a huge rise in patients in those age groups.

People did die of cancer in their 40s and 50s in the past, but also a lot of them would have died of something else first. It was very common for people, men in particularly, to die of heart atracks in their 40s and 50s.

Also as people have said there has been a big shift in the way we talk about cancer. In the past cancer was really feared and not really talked about, so you may never have known that people dying young did so of cancer.

When I had kidney cancer in my 30s I was told by my consultant that they are seeing a rise in cancers in young people. I also saw an article that said that some cancers were increasing in the young. I can't remember all of them but it did include kidney and bowel cancers. Do it's not just anecdotal. It is happening.

Excuse my typos, on phone + dyslexic = guess what I’m saying 😬

I agree,it's seems that way although I've lost 3 close friends to cancer before 50 and now have another with terminal and another just finished treatment. I have a lot of friends so the chances are higher I suppose but I really do feel om constantly dodging a bullet.

That's because its a bit of a myth that leading an 'unhealthy' lifestyle is the main cause of cancer. It raises some risk factors and can lessen the chances of treatment being successful, but sadly looking after your body doesn't make you immune.

This has been the trend for a fair amount of years and researchers still can't confidently conclude why. I think there's been interesting points made on this thread, as many are gastro related I suspect food on a societal level has a fair amount of importance. I say on societal level because even if an individual eats a balanced diet the prevelance of chemicals and additives etc are present in so much most people are likely to ingest at least some.

@Peverellshire

On MN 'exponentially' is overused.

You use 3 examples to back up your claims.

Data as others have shared don't back up your claims and since testing is much more advanced that it used to be in the past then one would expect more cases.

Context is everything

I believe that there are blood tests that are currently being trialled for cancer detection- if successful will be much easier to access than scans (I would have thought?)

Take flame retardants for instance, the UK has the strictest laws on having them in everything. You can buy the same product from the UK and the EU and the UK one will have flame retardants and the EU one won't.

Then it leeches into the water supply and inevitably our food.

I agree. I said as per examples, anecdotes not data, just feel for all concerned and it has all been a bit of a shock/sudden. Useful replies and more to read. In the future it will be all about prevention and not cure.

Annual MRIs will probably do more harm than good. When you MRI people you find all sorts of weird things (not cancer) that aren’t actually causing them any harm or impacting their life. I think it would lead to unnecessary treatments.

I really don’t underestimate the impact of UPFs, my DM is in her 50s she thinks she eats well by replacing foods with low fat, low sugar, highly processed alternatives.

And plastics, bloody plastic.

Interesting point from PP too about anal sex becoming more mainstream and HPV. I think we’d know though if anal sex increases incidents of bowel cancer because there’d be a higher rate in gay men.

Either way people my age in their late 20s and younger were vaccinated against HPV so I’m looking forward to seeing a reduction in HPV related cancers.

I don't think it is rising exponentially. For me, I am now in my late 40s and aware of several people of my age or younger having cancer, because I am in that age group where it does become a risk. I'm also aware of people having other health scares- heart - my cousin has already had a bypass op in his 50s, DH could have died of sepsis from peritonitis in 2019 age 48 had we not acted quickly, a couple of friends have had gallstones/gall bladder removed. Several friends have had gynaelogical issues/hysterectomy. I've been fast tracked three times, one for cervical cancer (minor pre-cancerous cell changes that were lasered), one for ovarian cancer (it was endometriosis and a large endometrial cyst on my ovary) and more recently for cancer of the oesophagus (it was a hiatus hernia and oesophagitis) and I'm 47, the first scare was when I was in my mid 30s.

It's a bit like noticing white cars when you own a white car. Cancer is bloody shit though. I'm glad I was seen so quickly each time. Also our bodies don't last for ever and used to regularly wear out in our 40s or earlier in ancient times, so we need to try and look after them.

No indeed. I think constant stress is accepted as a big factor though in helping provide the environment for cancerous cells to grow.

Very low obesity levels in adults (3%)?

Makes sense, and someone said, upthread, there may be a danger from being even nudging into an overweight category. Low dairy too? Dairy not terribly good for us and prob most of us have too much?

People need to start taking responsibility for themselves instead of over stretching the Nhs.
Processed meat is a huge carcinogen- we eat so much of it now.
The rise in cancer rates is directly linked to the food people are eating.