Cancer in the Prime of Life: Etiologic Insights and Supportive Oncologic Interventions for the Rising Burden of Young Adult Cancer

Summary: Shiels and colleagues analyzed the incidence data from the US Cancer Statistics Database and death certificate data from the National Center for Health Statistics to depict the incidence and mortality trends across both early-onset and average age–onset patients diagnosed with cancer over the past decade, with the objective to refine the understanding of etiologic factors and exposures that may be driving the observed increase in early-onset cancer. Their approach revealed that the majority of early-onset cancer diagnoses occurred in females; there was a significant increase in multiple cancers, most significantly in breast cancer and colon cancer; and although mortality did not increase across the entire early-onset population, mortality rates increased within colorectal, uterine, and testicular cancers. See related article by Shiels et al., p. 1363 .