The number of early onset cancer cases has grown significantly over the past three decades, with high-income countries particularly affected.
Researchers estimated there was a 79 per cent increase in new cases of cancer in those under the age of 50 between 1990 and 2019.
A team from the University of Edinburgh and the Zhejiang University School of Medicine in China analysed data from the 2019 Global Burden of Disease. which focused on 29 cancers reported in 204 countries and regions.
They looked at new cases, deaths, health consequences and risk factors in people aged 14 to 49, estimating an annual percentage for each year.
The regions with the highest rates of early onset cancers were North America, Australasia and Western Europe.
The UAE (1127.6 per cent), Qatar (1,089.5 per cent) and Saudi Arabia (896.0 per cent) exhibited the sharpest increases in the number of cases from 1990 to 2019, according to the study.
The findings upend received wisdom about the types of cancers typically affecting those under 50, with breast cancer, windpipe and prostate cancers growing markedly in the examined time period.
In 2019, there were 3.26 million new cancer diagnoses for under-50s. Deaths were also up by 27.7 per cent.
Researchers have blamed smoking, alcohol consumption and diets high in meat and salt, along with factors such as excess weight, low physical activity and high blood sugar, for the spike in cases.
Breast cancer made up the largest proportion of cases – 13.7 per every 100,000 people – while windpipe and prostate cancer cases are growing the fastest at 2.28 per cent and 2.23 per cent per year, respectively.
However, early onset liver cancer cases were down by 2.88 per cent each year.
Study author Xue Li, of the Centre for Global Health at the University of Edinburgh’s Usher Institute, said while early onset cancer in the UK showed an “upward trend” from 1990 to 2010, “the overall incidence rate remained stable” from 2010 to 2019.
“Fortunately, the annual mortality rate from early-onset cancer in the UK has been steadily decreasing, a testament to the outstanding cancer screening and treatment efforts over the past three decades,” she added.
The study was published in the journal BMJ Oncology.
Montserrat Garcia-Closas, a professor of epidemiology at the Institute of Cancer Research, said the study “seeks to address important questions on global surge in early-onset cancers” but there are “limitations with the methodology make it unclear what these findings add to current literature”.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
