No. 1 Cancer Killer for People Under 50 Has Gotten Worse Since 1990 — Here’s Your ‘Best Tool’ for Beating It
Cancer deaths are falling among young Americans — except for one terrifying outlier.
Over the past 30 years, it has surged to become the top cancer killer of people under 50, overtaking breast, lung and brain cancers, as well as leukemia, a new analysis found.
“It is clear that this can no longer be called an old person’s disease,” Dr. Ahmedin Jemal, a senior author of the study and a top official at the American Cancer Society, said in a statement.
In the study, researchers analyzed more than 1.2 million deaths and found that overall cancer mortality in Americans under 50 dropped 44% between 1990 and 2023.
The decline was driven by sharp drops in four of the five leading cancer killers, which fell by as much as 6% annually.
Only one increased: colorectal cancer, which rose 1.1% each year over the past three decades, climbing from the fifth most common cancer death to first place. (Read more from “No. 1 Cancer Killer for People Under 50 Has Gotten Worse Since 1990 — Here’s Your ‘Best Tool’ for Beating It” HERE)
Photo credit: Flickr










