United States – The speedy aging of younger populations is an ongoing trend in the present society. It could be one of the causes leading to a higher possibility of the occurrence of cancer, the study infers.
Increased Cancer Risk Tied to Premature Aging
People that we learn of as millennials or Generation Z have a 17% higher aging rate than the seniors who were originally between 1950 and 1954, according to researchers, as reported by HealthDay.
It is reported that for every year that aging accelerates earlier in adulthood (that is, among individuals younger than 55 years), the risk for one of the early onset cancers (that is, among individuals who are diagnosed with cancer before the age of 55) increases.
Implications for Cancer Prevention and Early Detection
“Multiple cancer types are becoming increasingly common among younger adults in the United States and globally,” researcher Ruiyi Tian, a doctoral student at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, said in a news release. “Understanding the factors driving this increase will be key to improving the prevention or early detection of cancers in younger and future generations.”
Here, the researchers focused on blood data from close to 149,000 people from the U.K. Biobank project.
The group employed a set of nine biomarkers in the blood to calculate someone’s biological age, which is the age that an individual appears to be compared to the condition that their body is in.
This was followed by the researchers comparing the cancer age of the participants as opposed to those that had actually happened among them according to their dates of birth.
Key Findings Highlight Elevated Cancer Risks
Researchers discovered an increased risk for every unit increment in accelerated aging.
- 42% for early-onset lung cancer.
- 22% for early-onset gastrointestinal (GI) cancer.
- 36% for early-onset uterine cancer.
There was a 16 % higher risk of age-accelerated GI cancer among older adults and a 23 % higher risk of age-accelerated uterine cancer among seniors.
Tian said that observing the interrelation between accelerating aging and getting early-onset cancers could bring us a new perspective to understand the [common causes] of early-onset cancers.
“If validated, our findings suggest that interventions to slow biological aging could be a new avenue for cancer prevention, and screening efforts tailored to younger individuals with signs of accelerated aging could help detect cancers early,” she added, as reported by HealthDay.
New research suggests that younger adults might be aging faster than usual. The question now is: Why? Also, why is this increasing the chance of cancer?
Presenting the Research at AACR Meeting
Researchers presented their findings at the AACR’s meeting in San Diego on the day before yesterday. Provisional status should be assigned to medical presentations at conferences until the publication of their final version in a scientifically reviewed peer-reviewed journal.