By Mary Ward
Globally and in Australia, more people are being diagnosed with cancer before their 50th birthday.
On Saturday morning Australian time, Catherine, Princess of Wales, revealed she was receiving preventative chemotherapy after cancer was discovered following an abdominal surgery in January.
Catherine, Princess of Wales, in London in November 2023.Credit: AP
Preventative chemotherapy is a treatment given before or after surgery, or another “primary” treatment, to reduce the chance of cancer returning or spreading.
The 42-year-old wife of the heir to the British throne did not disclose the type of cancer she is receiving treatment for.
Several recent analyses of cancer rates among under-50s have shown increasing incidence rates not explained by the introduction of screening programs, which typically focus on older populations.
A 2022 study published in Nature found diagnoses of common types of cancer in the under-50s had been rising since the 1990s.
The study used population data from several countries, including Australia and England, with researchers describing the trend as an “early-onset cancer epidemic”.
Locally, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)’s latest Cancer in Australia report, published in 2021, found incidences of cancer had increased in people aged 40 to 59 more than any other age group.
The report also highlighted a particular increase in colorectal cancer – also known as bowel cancer – among the 20 to 39-year-old age group.
A snapshot analysis of the AIHW data for five types of cancer – bowel, kidney, uterus, gallbladder and pancreas – published by researchers at Sydney’s Daffodil Centre last year found rates were increasing among Millennials.
Looking specifically at diagnoses among people in their 30s between 1991 and 2021, the analysis showed a 200 per cent increase in incidences of gall bladder (to 0.3 cases per 100,000 people), a 168 per cent increase in uterine cancer (5.1 per 100,000), a 153 per cent increase in bowel cancer (15.2 per 100,000), an 89 per cent increase in kidney cancer (3.6 per 100,000) and an 83 per cent increase in pancreatic cancer (1.1 per 100,000).
“The most interesting trend in the data is that we are seeing a statistically significant increase in the cancers that might be associated with poor diet, physical inactivity and obesity,” said Paul Grogan, a strategic adviser for Cancer Council NSW and the Daffodil Centre.
“We haven’t established a biological mechanism to show that, but the patterns are there.”
While the majority of cancer diagnoses continue to be in older people, an increase among comparably younger adults has fuelled a push to lower cancer screening ages.
Last year, the National Health and Medical Research Council dropped the recommended screening age for bowel cancer from 50 to 45 following a campaign by Bowel Cancer Australia.
However, the federal government is yet to fund screenings for the 45 to 49-year-old age group.
With screening programs focusing on older Australians, Grogan said the message for Millennials was to have regular checks with their GP, as well as eat well and exercise regularly.