Women under 50 are 82% more likely to get cancer than men
Cancer is showing a new, troubling trend in the United States.
Published today, the latest report from the American Cancer Society (ACS) reveals a troubling shift in cancer demographics, with women and younger people now bearing a larger brunt of the disease, even as overall cancer deaths continue to decline.
For example, cancer rates in women aged 50 to 64 have now surpassed men. Even more striking, women under 50 are now 82% more likely to be diagnosed with cancer than their male counterparts, a significant jump from 51% in 2002.
Cancer cases are increasingly appearing in women and young people. Getty Images
The shift can partly be attributed to the rise in breast and thyroid cancers, the study said, which now account for nearly half of all cancers in people under 50 and predominantly affect women.
At the same time, men under 50 are seeing a decline in diagnoses for common cancers like melanoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and prostate cancer.
So, what’s driving this troubling trend? According to Dr. Richard Barakat, physician-in-chief at Northwell Health Cancer Institute, lifestyle changes are likely a major factor.
Take breast cancer, for example. Women in the US are having children later — or not at all — which may mean they are missing out on the protective benefits that pregnancy and breastfeeding provide against breast cancer, Dr. Barakat told The Post.
Additionally, heavy alcohol consumption, a leading modifiable risk factor for breast cancer, has been rising among American women. This shift could also be contributing to the increase, Barakat said.
Women ages 49 and younger have long had a higher incidence rate than males, mainly because of breast cancer. Gorodenkoff – stock.adobe.com
The ACS report comes on the heels of a sharp warning about the link between alcohol and cancer from US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who called for warning labels on alcoholic drinks — similar to those found on cigarette packs.
Lung cancer is another area where women are now outpacing men in younger age groups.
From 2012 to 2021, lung cancer diagnoses declined overall, but for the first time, women under 65 have surpassed men in new cases.
“I think that women took up smoking later than men did, and maybe have lagged a bit behind in stopping,” Barakat said. Since 1965, smoking rates among women have fallen by about 59%, compared with a 66% drop among men.
Alcohol is one of the biggest risk factors for breast cancer in women Olesia Bilkei – stock.adobe.com
There’s also a troubling rise in cervical cancer.
After decades of decline thanks partly to the HPV vaccine, women aged 30 to 44 saw an 11% increase in cervical cancer diagnoses from 2013 to 2021.
Dr. Barakat suggested that rising vaccine hesitancy may be partly to blame, with some women skipping their shots.
“The other strange phenomenon we’re seeing is that women are putting off going to the gynecologist,” Barakat. That means they are likely missing out on critical screenings, such as pap smears starting at age 21.
Since 1965, smoking rates among women have dropped by about 59 percent, compared with a 66 percent drop among men. mitarart – stock.adobe.com
“If we were vaccinating everyone who should be vaccinated and following screening guidelines, cervical cancer is a disease that in all likelihood would be eradicated,” Barakat said.
The U.S. obesity crisis is likely another contributing factor, especially when it comes to the gender and age gap in cancer diagnoses.
Federal data shows women are more likely to be obese than men (40% vs. 35%), and younger generations are more likely to be overweight or obese compared to their parents and grandparents.
“Fifty percent of all cancers are due to lifestyle,” said Barakat. “If you changed your behavior, you could reduce your chances of so many of them.”
Get the latest breakthroughs in medicine, diet & nutrition tips and more.
Subscribe to our weekly Post Care newsletter!
Thanks for signing up!
Lifestyle factors aside, changes to screening guidelines may also explain the rising rates of certain cancers, especially among younger people. For example, last year the recommended age for mammograms was lowered from 50 to 40.
“We’re picking up a lot of early breast cancers that we may not have had in the past,” said Barakat. “We’re detecting a lot more very early thyroid cancers too.”
This is likely due to improved imaging technology and more widespread use of diagnostic tools, he said, which allow doctors to spot small, slow-growing tumors that may have previously been missed.
Research shows that excess body fat increases your risk for several cancers. Getty Images/iStockphoto
While overall cancer survival rates are on the rise and the nation’s mortality rate dropped a whopping 34% from 1991 to 2022, some cancers are bucking the trend. Death rates are climbing for cancers of the oral cavity, pancreas, uterine corpus, and liver.
“Continued reductions in cancer mortality because of drops in smoking, better treatment, and earlier detection is certainly great news,” said Rebecca Siegel, senior scientific director, surveillance research at the ACS and lead author of the report.
“However, this progress is tempered by rising incidence in young and middle-aged women, who are often the family caregivers, and a shifting cancer burden from men to women, harkening back to the early 1900s when cancer was more common in women,” she said.
The ACS estimates that in 2025, there will be 2,041,910 new cancer diagnoses in the U.S. (about 5,600 a day) and 618,120 cancer deaths.
