There are different aspects of different types of cancer. As we have learned over the years, some cancers have a close link to viruses, as with HPV and cervical cancer, for instance. Some cancers, like lung cancer, have had such a high link with smoking that the non-smoking drivers have been more difficult to see until far fewer people were smoking. Then people noticed odd cancer clusters related to radon.
Cancer and heart disease have been the top two causes of death in the U.S. for decades, and due to more rapid improvements in heart disease treatment (and other trends) compared to cancer, people thought that cancer would exceed heart disease as the cause of death at some point…
…but this hasn’t happened yet.
Report: Increased Cancer Incidence and Mortality at Younger Ages
Colorectal cancer was once viewed as being mostly diagnosed among middle-age and older adults, but that’s changing.
Research shows more adults in their 20s, 30s and 40s are being diagnosed with colorectal cancer, with incidence increasing over the last three decades.
Deaths are on the rise too, with a recent study finding colorectal cancer is now the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men -- and second in women, under age 50.
I’ve pointed this out in older posts. This has been a long-term trend, going back decades.
The above news story is coming from this American Cancer Society press release:
A new study by American Cancer Society (ACS) researchers shows that overall cancer mortality in people younger than 50 in the United States has decreased by 44%, from 25.5 per 100,000 people in 1990 to 14.2 in 2023. The progress is due to declines in mortality for four of the five leading cancer-related deaths (breast, lung, and brain cancers, and leukemia). Only colorectal cancer (CRC) mortality increased, by 1.1% per year since 2005, advancing it from the fifth most common cancer death in the early 1990s to first in 2023. The study is to be published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
“The steady rise in colorectal deaths under 50 is even more alarming compared to the dramatic declines for lung and breast, even as breast cancer incidence is climbing,” said Rebecca Siegel, MPH, senior scientific director, surveillance research at the American Cancer Society and lead author of the report. “While we await answers for why colorectal cancer rates are up, lives can be saved now through symptom awareness and destigmatization, and more screening uptake, as three in four people under 50 are diagnosed with advanced disease.”
For the study, scientists analyzed trends in the annual numbers of cancer deaths and age-standardized rates per 100,000 men and women aged 0-49 years for the top 5 cancer-related deaths during 1990-2023 in the U.S. They used data from the National Center for Health Statistics as provided by the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program at the National Cancer Institute.
The results showed that 1,267,520 people died from cancer in the U.S. before age 50 from 1990 through 2023, and the overall death rate decreased by 44%. Four of the five leading causes of cancer death decreased, with the average annual decline during 2014-2023 ranging from 0.3% for brain cancer and 1.4% for breast cancer to 2.3% for leukemia and 5.7% for lung cancer. Only CRC mortality increased annually for people under 50. Lung cancer and leukemia dropped from ranking first to fourth and third to fifth, respectively, whereas breast cancer remained the second leading cancer death overall and first in women. Cervical cancer ranked third in women in 1990 and 2023, despite a continuous decline throughout the study period. The cancer distribution in men mirrored the overall pattern, with breast cancer replaced by non-Hodgkin lymphoma (4th) in 1990 and pancreatic cancer (5th) in 2023.
“We weren’t expecting colorectal cancer to rise to this level so quickly, but now it is clear that this can no longer be called an old person’s disease. We must double down on research to pinpoint what is driving this tsunami of cancer in generations born since 1950,” added Dr. Ahmedin Jemal, senior vice president, surveillance, prevention, and health services research at the American Cancer Society and senior author of the study. “In the meantime, people 45-49 years make up fifty percent of diagnoses under 50, so increased screening uptake will prevent disease as well as death.”
“The progress in overall cancer mortality in people under 50 is encouraging and demonstrates that increased access to prevention and screening services is making a real difference in the fight against cancer,” said Lisa A. Lacasse, president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network(ACS CAN), the advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society. “This research underscores the urgent need to protect and expand access to care, especially at a time when increasing health care premiums and cuts to prevention and screening programs threaten to reverse our progress and undo the gains we have achieved. We cannot afford to turn back the clock now. ACS CAN will continue to work with lawmakers to advocate for policies that will move us forward in our mission to end cancer as we know it, for everyone.”
This is the mix of good and bad news and reflects what I showed in older posts (I will drop related links at the bottom of this post).
This is not new news.
Back Up Two Years: Princess Catherine Announces Cancer Diagnosis
In March 2024, Catherine, Princess of Wales, announced she had been diagnosed with cancer. (King Charles was also diagnosed with cancer, but we’re focusing on the higher incidence of cancer for younger adults.)
Kate Middleton released a new message to commemorate World Cancer Day.
World Cancer Day is observed annually on Feb. 4, and the Princess of Wales, 44, released a new video to social media about the occasion.
The short clip featured footage of Princess Kate meeting people during her visit to The Royal Marsden Hospital’s Chelsea site in January 2025. The outing came with the confirmation that she received treatment from The Royal Marsden during her cancer journey, and the Princess of Wales shared later that day that she was in remission.
In a voiceover of the new video shared to Instagram, Princess Kate began, “On World Cancer Day, my thoughts are with everyone who is facing a cancer diagnosis, undergoing treatment or finding their way through recovery. Cancer touches so many lives — not only patients, but the families and friends and caregivers who walk beside them.”
But that’s not the only cancer with concerning trends at young ages, especially in 2023.
Mind you, cancer deaths in young adults (age 15-44) are very low compared to the middle-aged and seniors.
But in general, cancer death rates for most cancers have been decreasing for those groups, so when I see persistent increases in deaths, and I see research/clinical reports on increased diagnoses of certain cancers at advanced stages in young adults, I pay attention. The report on early-onset colorectal cancer is one such.
More cancers with increased incidence in young adult deaths
Note: cancer deaths for young adults overall don’t seem elevated:
But that’s before you disaggregate for cancer type:
[UPDATE: ADDED LABEL TO TABLE]
I will need to return to these.
Some of the cancers seem to be increasing in mortality rate for young adults since the pandemic and some, such as colorectal cancer, have had decades-long increasing trends.
We don’t know why.
The Good and the Bad News
The good news, because I don’t want to run the bad news into the ground, is that survival rates have improved greatly for those with cancer diagnoses, at all stages — yes, including “terminal” cancer.
“Advanced” cancers are those that are spread throughout the body at time of diagnosis. Alas, many types of cancers have been found at advanced stages, partly because we don’t have many (or any) ways to screen for them…until they become so bad they can’t be ignored.
That said, death rates due to cancer have a very good trend:
data source: CDC WONDER as of 7 Feb 2026
…But since the pandemic, it has somewhat stalled.
data source as of 7 Feb 2026
But mainly at the oldest ages.
So while there are increases of colorectal cancer incidence (and death) at younger ages, other cancers have been improving in rates in terms of incidence and mortality rates for younger adults. Some of this is related to smoking rate reduction as well as screening to catch cancers at earlier stages, at which point some cancers are curable.
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