Obesity-related cancers rising in U.S. young adults

Rates of some obesity-related cancers are rising faster in adults aged 25 to 49 than in older generations.

Millennials were nearly five times as likely as baby boomers to develop cancer of the kidneys

Thomson Reuters Posted: Feb 04, 2019 2:21 PM EST | Last Updated: February 4, 2019

If the obesity epidemic continues, there could be an explosion of fat-sensitive cancers in the years to come. (designer491/Shutterstock)

Mirroring the decades-long increase inobesity rates in the U.S., cancers that are thought to be drivenat least in part by excess weight are also on the rise amongpeople under age 50, a new study suggests.

Rates for six of 12 cancers related to obesity have beenincreasing in successive generations of young adults, with thesharpest increases in the youngest age groups, researchersreport in The Lancet Public Health.

The new study may serve as a warning that if the obesityepidemic continues, there could be an explosion of thesefat-sensitive cancers in the years to come, said the study'ssenior author, Dr. Ahmedin Jemal, scientific vice president ofsurveillance and health services research at the American CancerSociety.

"This finding signals an increased burden of obesity-relatedcancers in older adults in the future and calls for actions tomitigate this burden," he said in an email.

The researchers analyzed data from a central database ofstate cancer registries, focusing on new diagnoses between1995-2014 of 30 types of cancer, 12 of which are associated withexcess weight. They had complete data from 25 states thatrepresent about two thirds of the U.S. population.

In that 20-year period, there were about 14.7 million newcases of the 30 cancers. For at least eight cancers, includingsmoking-related and HIV-associated cancers, the incidence ratesdropped.

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But for six of the 12 obesity-related cancers colorectal,endometrial, gallbladder, kidney, pancreas and multiple myelomathere was a steady increase in incidence over the years, withlarger increases in younger adults.

The annual rise in new cases of kidney cancer, for example,was 6.23 per cent among people aged 25-29, but about 3 per cent inthe 45-49 age group. Similarly, pancreatic cancer incidence rose4.3 per cent each year for 25-to-29-year-olds but less than 1per cent annually among people aged 45-49.

Overall, rates of colorectal, endometrial, pancreatic andgallbladder cancers in millennials young adults born around1985 were about double the rates seen in people born in the1950s at the same age, the researchers note.

Especially striking was the rising rate of kidney cancers.Millennials were nearly five times as likely as baby boomers todevelop cancer of the kidneys.

In contrast, for all but two of the 18 non-obesity relatedcancers, rates either stabilized or declined in successiveyounger birth cohorts.

#DYK: 50% of all new #cancer cases are either lung, breast, colorectal or prostate? Learn more about the national trends here: https://t.co/RXFKGMqe12 #WorldCancerDay pic.twitter.com/fPyOOpW49X
—@GovCanHealth

Jemal hopes the new findings will sound an alarm for doctorstreating young adults. "Less than half of primary carephysicians regularly assess body mass index despite national screening recommendations," he said. "Further only a third ofpatients report receiving a diagnosis or weight losscounseling."

Public health measures, such as restrictions on advertisingof unhealthy calorie-laden foods, could also help, as well asmore campaigns to promote healthy lifestyle choices, Jemal said.

The cancer-obesity issue "is a really important topicbecause we've had an obesity crisis now for a number ofdecades," said John Jakicic, a professor and director of theHealthy Lifestyle Institute at the University of Pittsburgh inPennsylvania. "At some point we started to see that diabetes wastracking with obesity, what we're seeing now is somethingsimilar with respect to certain cancers."

Cancer prevention will most likely involve "prevention ofother things that might precipitate cancer," said Jakicic, whowasn't involved in the study. And while we don't yet knowexactly how obesity may be driving up cancer rates, it's"critically important" to see observational studies that thatshow an association between the two, he noted.

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Emerging cancer trends among young adults in the USA

Obesity-related cancers rising in U.S. young adults

Millennials were nearly five times as likely as baby boomers to develop cancer of the kidneys

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