Is cancer becoming more common in younger people?
Fri, 24/07/2009 - 00:11
It just dawned on me as I scrolled through some comments how young so many of us affected by cancer are. Do you feel cancer is becoming more common in younger people? If so, what do you feel the cause may be? LLx
Fri, 24/07/2009 - 19:25
#2
Re: Is cancer becoming more common in younger people?
I expect that statistics are kept on this. I hear of babies born with cancer so cancer is normal in our lives BUT why it it that in the modern world cancer is so much more prevalent ? . Is it because we live in a land of milk and honey or more importantly a land of plenty where cancer never gets starved for nutrition ?.
Cancer can be starved and dies as happened to prisoners of war.
We now have so much sugar in our diets and cancer thrives on refined sugars.
Opps I got off track . . . I certainty don't remember cancer amongst children back in the 1950s and 60s
Fri, 24/07/2009 - 21:53
#3
Re: Is cancer becoming more common in younger people?
Hi
I spent a few hours thus afternoon looking at the statistics. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare publishes regular updates on cancer incidence and cancer mortality in Australia. It also breaks down the data into five year age ranges, 20-24, 25-30, etc. So if you look at the data for 25-26 year olds, there is a very slight increase over the past twenty years, but it is a very slight increase. For other age e.g. 65-70 years olds, bigger increase that reflects the ageing of the population.
I think part of the issue is that once we have experienced cancer we are much more aware of it, so notice it and also move in circles where our acquaintances are more likely to have experienced cancer.
cheers
Sailor
The art of the sailor is to leave nothing to chance. Annie Van De Wiele
Tue, 28/07/2009 - 03:55
#4
Re: Is cancer becoming more common in younger people?
Have any of you read Bernie Siegel's book, 'Love, Medicine and Miracles'? His ideas certainly echo my circumstances of why I believe I had cancer -- yes, the stress link. I know we all suffer from stress, it's how we handle that stress that can lead to cell misfunction and breakdown leaving the gate open for cancer and other diseases.
As for diet, again I believe that more and more of us are eating red meat and dairy, which as you know is full of hormones which cancer can feed on. I didn't know about the refined sugar idea - that's interesting and certainly makes sense. Here in England they call breast cancer the rich middle aged woman's disease as it seems to affect the that bracket most.
Sailor, you kindly looked up stats in Australia. I wonder if that's a worldwide reflection. I'd be interested to compare them to the USA's whose diet and lifestyle may be different.
Just out of curiosity, how many of you suffered a traumatic experience 18 months to two years before you were diagnosed?
Thanks all for your feedback - I find it very intersting! LLx
Tue, 28/07/2009 - 15:18
#5
Re: Is cancer becoming more common in younger people?
I spent 6 years ill with a mystery illness before diagnosed with thryroid cancer and I think that there is not 1 particular thing but a collective of things that maybe compounded. I don't believe stress as such is a cause but more our unexpressed and bottled up emotions, but I also beleieve there are so many environmental factors (including upbringing) that it would be hard to pin point a moment.
MY MIL loves to tell everyone that she believes my cancer was what stressed my husband out and caused his cancer, this starts to become more about the blame game than causes I feel. As you have read form Steve we had a collective of traumatic events my illness was just a drop in the ocean.
I have herd from others about the links to sugar and cancer, apparently cancer feeds on sugar. Who know if it is true but I am not taking any chances I eat healthy food, I exercise (when I can with 2 kids), I do a little yoga for stress relief, clean with natural products (no carcenogenes) and i now talk about my feelings openly so I figure I can't do much more than that
I love thsi debate BTW its so interesting to find out everyones views and researched information 
Tue, 28/07/2009 - 08:15
#6
Re: Is cancer becoming more common in younger people?
Hi Loraleeb
I can relate o a stressful event, which would have occurred about the time I developed very early symptoms. It was a human rights issue which our business was VERY unfairly called on to explain, it was more like a kangaroo court. Another event was when a client tried to sue us.
My stomach does flips as I write this. The people involved in these cases I still wish them infernal (terminal) cancer
Loraleeb, are you on the Macmillan ( English ) website. There are a lot of people there to discuss this
Dunedigger
Tue, 28/07/2009 - 10:06
#7
Re: Is cancer becoming more common in younger people?
Hi everyone
Many years ago a friend I visited had on his wall a poster of a roof of a medieval European house, with hand made tiles on the roof - each tile was different, but together they worked as a roof. It was the words printed over the picture that I remember:
To every complex problem
There are many simple solutions
They are wrong!
Is cancer incidence increasing? Yes, because cancer is largely a disease of older age and we are living longer. So by the time we reach 75, (and we can all expect to reach 75 now - a huge change in the past 50 years) there is a 1 in 3 chance if your male and a 1 in 4 chance if your female, of having cancer. In this we are excluding all skin cancer except melanoma.
Is there variation in different cancers - yes, and it is argued that this is due to lifestyle changes and this is a positive. Most of our information about lifestyle and cancer comes from studies that look at cancer in different countries, changes in lifestyle and then in migrant groups changing from country of origin lifestyle to new country lifestyle. So, for example, as we have improved food preservation we have prevented cancer - yes, moulds that occur in food produce cancer causing substances. As we smoked more cigarettes in the early 1900's, so we increased lung cancer.
We also have to be aware of incidence figures that may simply reflect that we are better at diagnosing cancer. The classic case of this has been the significant increase in prostate cancer since the early 1990's - it simply reflects the availability of the PSA test - not the real incidence of prostate cancer.
What is more important is the survival data. 50 years ago the overall five year survival from cancer was about 25%, now it is >60%. That is something to celebrate.
Sress? Did I have stress in my life before I had cancer - yes, but so do lots of people who don't get cancer. Also we know that for many cancers, particularly ones that are linked to lifestyle, the length of time for the cancer to develop is often up to forty years. Did we have stress forty years ago? What do we mean by stress anyway? Do we use the psychiatrists definition, the endocrinologists definition, the popular press definition (if we used the latter - going to an AFL match such as the last Hawthorn Geelong match would mean there are > 60,000 people who are going to get cancer as a result!).
If you want information on cancer incidence and survival then go the the Cancer Australia website, or the Cancer Council website.
Cheers
Sailor
Countless as the sands of the sea are human passions. Nikolai Gogol
Tue, 28/07/2009 - 11:20
#8
Re: Is cancer becoming more common in younger people?
This is a very complex question and one worth exploring I think. I've also been doing a bit of research into it and what I've found is that the incidence of some cancers is increasing for reasons that can't be explained by lifestyle deficiencies and an ageing population alone.
For example, its widely cited that incidence rates of testicular cancer have been growing globally, and while a number of causes may have partially contributed to this, the overall rate of increase remains unexplained
(see: http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/150/1/45.pdf.). There has also been a steady, dramatic and unexplained decrease in male fertility around the world over the last hundred years and the cause of this also remains unexplained (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-158463/Why-male-fertility-decl...).
Are these issues linked? are potential carcinogens like electromagnetic radition, caffine, car exhausts and the pill to blame? who knows?
Personally, I don't believe in the link between stress and illness. I know a lot of people are and I'm very close to a few of them, but to me the idea that there is some kind of link between these things would mean that I had control over my body developing cancer at some point, and that I failed in that. However, I think it is an interesting idea.
In the 2 years before I was diagnosed I had a lot of things happen: my wife was diagnosed with cancer; my father was diagnosed with cancer and passed away; we had several other family deaths; we had major issues with extended family members; my first child was born; we moved house 5 times including moving cities; one of my cats was killed and my dog died. All the time I was working in a fairly demanding and stressful job. But I still don't think any of that made me get cancer.
Also, here's another interesting article I found that talks about global cancer rates:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2003/pr27/en/
Tue, 28/07/2009 - 15:10
#9
Re: Is cancer becoming more common in younger people?
Ah yes we have this debate all the time don't we Steve...its not about doing something bad yourself its about realising unexpressed emotions can cause disharmoney in the body. In the world of metaphysics my cancer comes about by 'never being herd' and we both know that is true and my biggest bug bear. So as Loralee says its about how we deal with these emotions that may have the link to cancer itself.
Interesting articles on statistics BTW
Tue, 28/07/2009 - 20:37
#10
Re: Is cancer becoming more common in younger people?
Had a look at your mentioned sites. Interesting that there was a plateau of testicular cancer in the early '90's. I wonder if it has anything to do with smoking pot and/or cigarettes. I remember very clearly that there was a health movement going on in CA during that time. Suddenly youngsters around my age (20) became more aware of their bodies and health issues. The government put a band on even smoking cigarettes outside at bus stops, etc. It became very uncool to smoke, and young men got very into working out and their bodies.
Much of prevention seems to indicate that a suppressed immune function can lead to cell misfunction - leaving the door open for disease -- and the best way to prevent that happening is: 1. exercise which increases oxygen levels causing the immune system to function better. 2. Letting rip with our feelings - angry and passionate people breathe in more deeply which, again, increases oxygen levels. 3. No more smoking which obviously decreases our oxygen levels. 4. Environmental factors such as oestrogen in our water, plastic bottles, meat etc should be avoided because of it's effects on our endocrine systems and because it's food for cancer to dwell.
In my mind, anything that leads to our bodies having to work double time to heal itself leaves our bodies susceptible to disease. Perhaps stress and depression isn't a direct cause -- perhaps it's the lifestyle that results as part of it. What I would say with absolute determination is that one can not dismiss the role stress and how it is handled as part of the equation.
It seems some get angry at the thought that their emotions could play a part because it implies it may be their fault that the cancer is there because of them. Even I wrote that in my book! I was so tired of people insinuating it was always my fault somehow. If it wasn't my poor Western diet, it was what I wore, what I put on my skin, what I drank, my poor mental state, the red meat I ate, bubble bath, microwaves, mobile phone masts, drinking out of plastic bottles... What I decided in the end was that it wasn't my fault, but there were some things I could do to help prevent its return. For me, and that doesn't imply everybody has to, I decided to seek help in expressing my emotions, meditation, healing and hypnosis, an exercise program and a change in diet. If I believe this works, and the mind can be a very powerful tool in fighting disease, my body will follow.
I do worry that with our stressful lifestyles, more and more young people will be vulnerable to disease. With my children I am imparting what I have learned and trying to teach them ways to handle such a fast paced life. Who knows if it will stop them from falling prey -- what I do know is it can't harm them LLx
Tue, 28/07/2009 - 10:16
#11
Re: Is cancer becoming more common in younger people?
Shame on you Dunedigger
As someone who has cancer and lives with it, I would not wish cancer on my worst enemy.
In one of my early blogs I warned about going down the "What If" road and how you can end up bitter and twisted. I think the same applies to the "Blame Road" . It is a road that you need to think about carefully before you go down it.
Sailor
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
Robert Frost - The Road Less Travelled.
Tue, 28/07/2009 - 15:05
#12
Re: Is cancer becoming more common in younger people?
I love that poem by Robert Frost! I do agree with Sailor its not good to wish cancer or anything else on anyone, don't give others the satisfaction of sinking to their level...beside can you even imagine the karma from something like that!
I to have somedays where I feel if only people realised what I had been through and what they had done to me in this terrible time, but the truth is I realise their actions are a reflection on them and not me. Hugs to you Dune Digger
Wed, 29/07/2009 - 20:27
#13
Re: Is cancer becoming more common in younger people?
A great conversation and one that perplexed me even before I became sick as I had 2 close friends diagnosed before me. One was definitely industrial related. I won't mention the company but it was BIG and they settled out of court. My husband worked with this guy(hence the friendship)and was exposed to the same chemicals as were hundreds of others. The only explanation that was given to my friend who was extraordinarily fit, didn't smoke and ate well, was that he was unlucky or that there was a possible predisposition to lung cancer and the factors all combined.
Personally, I feel that there may be a link to stress but this wasn't the case for this friend. While I have a family history of bowel cancer, the geneticists are still trying to work out whether mine was the inherited type. I haven't got my head around all the terminology yet.I had a stressful job (teaching)and was overweight but that was probably linked to stress as well. I had had a colonoscopy 2 years before my dx due to my family history and was clear. My 30mm tumour grew in 2 years - go figure!I understand that there has been established a strong link between weight and exercise and bowel cancer but I think we have to be careful to ensure that we don't lay guilt on ourselves.
Sailor, I do enjoy your quotes at the end of each post!!
Samex
Mon, 03/08/2009 - 18:48
#14
Re: Is cancer becoming more common in younger people?
Hi Everyone,
Sorry, we appear to have another "visitor" to our site posting some innapropriate links - I have reported these and hopefully things will be tidied up shortly.
Cheers,
Kate
Sun, 09/08/2009 - 03:08
#15
Re: Is cancer becoming more common in younger people?
It's interesting that the statistics generally exclude the non-melanoma skin cancers, which are squamous and basal cell carcinoma. I'd be interested in knowing why this is the case.
SCC and BCC are statistically the most common cancers in Australia (which might be why they are excluded) but primarily occur in people over 50 and are rare and aggressive in young people.
I had SCC of the tongue at 29 (I've never smoked either), and my ENT specialist said he knew of only ONE other case in the whole country of oral SCC in a patient under 35.
Non-melanoma skin cancers could potentially be an excellent 'control' group for research into the characteristics of cancer biology, specifically in young people.
Wed, 12/08/2009 - 23:23
#16
Re: Is cancer becoming more common in younger people?
You all probably know my story by now...my husband was diagosed with secondary liver cancer(unknown primary)at 35 years of age.
He died a year later.
Can I tell you that at our children's school(infants department only), Andy was the 5th parent to be diagnosed with cancer within two years. And this includes only the people who have 'come out' with the disease. Some people decide to keep their disease private.
I'm no expert, but when I was growing up, it wasn't a common occurance that my friends parents were struck by life threatening illnesses.
Sal
Thu, 12/11/2009 - 22:02
#17
Re: Is cancer becoming more common in younger people?
In some cancers i would say yes.
Melanoma is highest and most deadly in the 25-48 age group.
As a whole cancer survival rates are up (30% of the last 30yrs) but if you look at the YA group there has been no survival increase in the same time frame.
I think its because the YAs are now more vocal then ever which can only be a good thing.
Thu, 23/12/2010 - 21:56
#18
Re: Is cancer becoming more common in younger people?
Hi Wilmo34
One of the problems with making a statement that there has been no survival increase in the last thirty years in a particular group, is that it doesn't say what the underlying survival rate is. A couple of years ago I heard Archie Bleyer talk about the lack of increase in survival in the 20 - 40 age group. I had been quoting his North American data for a while. So I decided to see what the Australian data was. So I looked up the data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare website and didn't get the same story. I did a bit more enquiring and then someone pointed out to me that you need to look at the underlying survival rate first.
So for childhood cancer the rate was fairly low and now it is good so there has been a big improvement in the last thirty years. For cancer in the 60+ age group the story is rather similar. For the 20 - 40 year age group, the survival rate was fairly high thirty years so any improvement can only show up as a small survival increase.
Let me take some numbers. If thirty years ago the five year survival rate was was 30% - i.e. on average 30% survived 5 years. In that period the survival rate is lifted to 50%, then that is (50-30)/30 - a 60% relative increase in survival! If thirty years ago the survival rate was 80% and in the next thirty years that increases to 90% , then that is (90-80)/80 - a 12% relative increase in survival! If you play around with the figures, if you started with a 80% five year survival and lifted that to 100%, you would still only have a 13% increase in survival.
From memory, the five year survival for all cancer in the 20 - 40 age group was of the order of 80% thirty years ago in Australia and is now of the order of 85% (I could be wrong as I haven't dredged through the data again and I am relying on memory) so you can't expect huge survival increase, expressed as percentages, for that age group.
Now that does not detract from the needs of AYA's with cancer. They are a group whose supportive care needs have not been met. They are a group where the impact of cancer is huge as they are people with family responsibilities, huge financial commitments. It is just that their survival statistics have ben good for the past thirty or so years.
Regards
Sailor
An incorrectly identified mark is a hazard, not an aid, to navigation. Alton B. Moody
Thu, 23/12/2010 - 00:31
#19
Re: Is cancer becoming more common in younger people?
Is it possible that we are becoming to clean? Some cancers (lymphomas) are on the increase in the Western world but not in 3rd world countries. There is some thought that as youngsters we are not exposed to enough bugs to build our immune system.
Thu, 13/01/2011 - 07:23
#20
Re: Is cancer becoming more common in younger people?
A bit late to this thread, but I agree with the "blame road". There are probably lots of contributing factors as to why we get cancer, one of those just "bad luck". Why did one of my mother's DNA's warp? Why also did we manage to have such a strong "line" in our family (4 of 4 direct descendents with the gene and 4 of 5 grandchildren with the gene). I just try to accept that this can happen and was "meant" to occur - would not have made any difference with change of lifestyle. Some cancers, such as melanoma can mostly be avoided, a large number of lung cancers can be avoided - but NOT all - with lifestyle choices. I also believe that we have to enjoy ourselves while we are alive, and the things that supposedly have a chance of causing cancer (carcinogens) can change as research is done. So, we have to decide on enjoy life to the fullest and live with the consequences, including other diseases, live stringently along the "safe" lines and hope that we don't get anything bad (impossible to do so), or live in moderation and enjoy the "bad things" now and then to give our lives some "fun".
I think that as long as you are happy with your decisions about how you live, and that you accept any consequence, then just go ahead and do so. I find that as long as I try not to "hurt" anyone else, especially deliberately, and try to help others where I can put my energy, then I am happy with my life.
craftyone
Loralee I think this is an interesting topic and endless in possibilities. Often those around us like to blame it on the people around us or on us but of course we know it takes more than that right!
I have a few theories No1 we now use more chemicals for cleaning our homes, No2 we have foods filled with preservatives and drinks filled with fake sugars ect...surely fresh foods are the go, No3 more cars on the road, so pollutions may contribute and No4 is one I butt heads with people about all the time possibilities of manifestation...sorta what you've been talking about links between emoitional stuff and illness.
I look forward to reading othe rpeoples view on the subject!