AUGUST 12 , 2024
Cancer Rates Are Rising in Young People . Here ’ s What You Need to Know
Do you think you are too young to get screened for cancer ? Think again . It might save your life BY KAREN E . KNUDSEN & OTHMAN LARAKI
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Today a woman in her 30s faces higher odds of a cancer diagnosis than her grandmother did at her age two generations ago . Cancer incidence and mortality are rising in millennials and even younger populations , according to American Cancer Society ( ACS ) data , while rates among older Americans are declining . In July , a study found that both members of Generation X and Millennials face a higher risk than older generations of 17 types of cancer .
Cancer spares no one . Not a month goes by without the news of a celebrity , an
acquaintance , a friend or a family member learning what each of us dreads to hear from a doctor : “ You have cancer .” Just this March global attention was captured by the news of 42‐year‐old Catherine , Princess of Wales , who is married to the heir to the British throne , sharing the news of her cancer diagnosis .
In January the annual ACS cancer statistics report showed that people in the under‐50 group were the only ones in the U . S . to experience an overall increase in cancer incidence from 1995 through 2020 .