Over the past 10 years, rates of colorectal cancer among 25 to 49 year olds have increased in 24 different countries, including the UK, US, France, Australia, Canada, Norway and Argentina.

The investigation’s early findings, presented by an international team at the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) congress in Geneva in September 2024, were as eye-catching as they are concerning.

The researchers, from the American Cancer Society (ACS) and the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) International Agency for Research on Cancer, surveyed data from 50 countries to understand the trend. In 14 of these countries, the rising trend was only seen in younger adults, with older adult rates remaining stable.

Based on epidemiological investigations, it seems that this trend first began in the 1990s. One study found that the global incidence of early-onset cancer had increased by 79% between 1990 and 2019, with the number of cancer-related deaths in younger people rising by 29%. Another report in The Lancet Public Health described how cancer incidence rates in the US have steadily risen between the generations across 17 different cancers, particularly in Generation Xers and Millennials.

  • mean_bean279@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    arrow-down
    49
    ·
    1 month ago

    Honestly the working from home with less walking and more sitting seems like the biggest reason for this since there’s some pretty major dietary differences between all these countries, but they probably have a higher rate of WFH compared to other countries.

    • leisesprecher
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      37
      ·
      1 month ago

      Read the article. The trend started in 1990, a time where wfh meant assembling ballpoint pens or prostitution.

      • mean_bean279@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        22
        ·
        1 month ago

        “The overall evidence points to lifestyle change," says Shuji Ogino, professor of pathology and epidemiology at Harvard University

        A quote from the article. People were starting WFH well into the 80s. It’s part of a sedentary lifestyle and growing obesity problem. Both of which researchers are pointing to as well as microplastics in our system.

        • leisesprecher
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          17
          ·
          edit-2
          1 month ago

          No, they didn’t. Especially not in relevant numbers: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1450450/employees-remote-work-share/

          This only starts in 2015 (I was too lazy to research your idiocy), but even then (very very much after the internet was a very relevant factor) we start at 7% and you can clearly see that there was an upwards trend at that time.

          So in short: get your head out of your ass and don’t vomit you unfounded stereotypes and boomerisms on the general public.

          • mean_bean279@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            15
            ·
            1 month ago

            What’s the stereotype you think I’m playing into? 😂

            I literally work from home in the tech sector. I’m a young, fit 30 year old with this exact same set of issues. There’s no problem with WFH, what I’m pointing to is that a sedentary lifestyle which is boosted by people who only walk 5 steps from bed to office (like me) has helped to exacerbate an issue. My parent had work from home days back in the 90s and early 2000s, so we know they existed and started growing, much like this issue with cancer. It’s not because of only WFH, but it’s part of that grouping of a sedentary lifestyle. I think you’re taking my position on that as some sort of attack on WFH, which it isn’t.