Khaberni - The world has witnessed a worrying health trend in recent years characterized by an increasing rate of cancer among young people, which has puzzled doctors and scientists who are seeking to understand the underlying causes of this phenomenon.
However, a recent study conducted by a team of British scientists revealed that colon or intestinal cancer is the only type of cancer seeing a clear increase among those under fifty, compared to older adults.
The analysis included data from 42 countries and concluded that other types of cancer — such as thyroid, breast, and kidney cancers — did not register significant differences between the two age groups. In fact, some cancers, like liver and stomach cancer, saw decreased rates among young people in more than half of the studied countries.
Yet, colon cancer was the most notable exception; its rates rose faster among the young compared to those over fifty in more than two-thirds of the countries included in the research.
The study involved a comparison between adults aged 20 to 49 and those aged 50 to 69, over 15 years of follow-up. The scientists found that cancer rates had increased for both groups in three-quarters of the countries for cancer types including breast, thyroid, kidney, endometrial, and leukemia.
Conversely, rates of liver, oral, esophageal, and stomach cancers decreased among the younger adults in more than half the countries. The team confirmed that colon cancer is the only type that clearly increased among the young and decreased among the elderly, with higher incidence rates in the younger group in 69% of the countries, with a significant statistical difference in about 38% of them.
Professor Amy Berrington, an epidemiology expert at the Cancer Research Institute in London and the study's lead author, believes one possible reason for this increase is that screening and prevention programs are often presented only to older individuals, explaining: "Colon cancer screenings not only detect the disease in its early stages but also help prevent it by removing precancerous tumors. Thus, it seems that elderly people benefit more from prevention than young people who are not regularly screened."
Berrington added that obesity might be a contributing factor, but she insisted that the evidence is still inconclusive, suggesting that there might be new environmental or dietary factors not yet discovered.
Common symptoms of colon cancer include:
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Changes in bowel movements (persistent diarrhea or constipation).
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Repeated urge to defecate.
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Presence of blood in the stool.
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Pain or swelling in the abdomen.
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Unexplained weight loss.
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Constant feeling of fatigue.
