Cancer deaths among people under 50 increased by 27.7 percent between 1990 and 2019. Breast, stomach, colon, tracheal, bronchus, and lung cancers, in particular, showed the highest mortality rates among younger people.
Researchers identified diet-related factors, as well as alcohol and tobacco consumption, as the main causes of the increase in recent decades. A new possible risk factor for cancer in younger age groups has now been discovered by a US research team. The scientists found that a person's biological age is closely linked to the risk of cancer. Since age is generally considered a risk factor for various types of cancer, biological age also plays a similar role. The study was presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Wednesday. The researchers analyzed the medical records of 148,724 people from the UK Biobank database. A specially developed algorithm made it possible to calculate the biological age of these individuals. People born after 1965 have a 17 percent higher tendency to accelerated aging than those born between 1950 and 1954. For every standard deviation that accelerated aging increases, the risk of early lung cancer increases by 42 percent, gastrointestinal cancer by 22 percent, and early uterine cancer by 36 percent. The study also shows weaknesses because the test subjects could not be followed over a longer period of time. There is also a lack of diversity in the population examined. Despite these points of criticism, the study provides valuable insights for cancer prevention. If our results are confirmed, measures to slow down biological aging could be a new way to stop cancer at an early stage.