New research suggests a surge in cancer among younger adults may be the result of “accelerated aging,” according to a study presented at the American Association for Cancer Research’s annual meeting in San Diego, held April 5–10.
“Multiple cancer types are becoming increasingly common among younger adults in the United States and globally,” said Ruiyi Tian, a graduate student at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. “Understanding the factors driving this increase will be key to improve the prevention or early detection of cancers in younger and future generations.”
The National Institutes of Health supported the study.
The researchers suggest that increased biological age, characteristic of accelerated aging, may contribute to the development of early-onset cancers, defined as those occurring in adults younger than 55.
Biological age refers to the condition of a person’s body and physiological processes, which are considered modifiable. A person’s chronological age refers to the number of years they have been alive.
“Unlike chronological age, biological age may be influenced by factors such as diet, physical activity, mental health, and environmental stressors,” Ms. Tian said. “Accumulating evidence suggests that the younger generations may be aging more swiftly than anticipated, likely due to earlier exposure to various risk factors and environmental insults. However, the impact of accelerated aging on early-onset cancer development remains unclear.”
The increasing rates of colon cancer among young people have drawn concern among the medical community.
Evaluating the Data
Ms. Tian and her colleagues examined data from more than 148,000 people in the United Kingdom Biobank database.Each of the participants’ biological age was calculated based on nine biomarkers found in their blood: albumin, alkaline phosphatase, creatinine, C-reactive protein, glucose, mean corpuscular volume, red cell distribution width, white blood cell count, and lymphocyte proportion. Those whose biological age was found to be higher than their chronological age were considered to have accelerated aging.
Participants were divided into two cohorts: one group included individuals born in 1965 or later, and the other included people born between 1950 and 1954.
The researchers found that younger participants, born in 1965 or later, had a 17 percent higher likelihood of accelerated aging compared to the older group.
Next, Ms. Tian and her colleagues evaluated the link between accelerated aging and the risk of early-onset cancers.
“They found that each standard deviation increase in accelerated aging was associated with a 42% increased risk of early-onset lung cancer, a 22% increased risk of early-onset gastrointestinal cancer, and a 36% increased risk of early-onset uterine cancer,” according to the American Association for Cancer Research.
The researchers also found that accelerated aging did not significantly impact the risk of lung cancer after the age of 55.
However, they did find that accelerated aging was associated with a 16 percent increased risk for late-onset gastrointestinal cancer and a 23 percent increased risk for uterine cancers.
“By examining the relationship between accelerating aging and the risk of early-onset cancers, we provide a fresh perspective on the shared etiology of early-onset cancers,” Ms. Tian said. “If validated, our findings suggest that interventions to slow biological aging could be a new avenue for cancer prevention, and screening efforts tailored to younger individuals with signs of accelerated aging could help detect cancers early.”
The researchers said they hope to continue their research to identify the mechanisms propelling accelerated aging and early-onset cancers to “develop precision cancer prevention strategies.”
They also noted that the generalization of the results may be limited since all of the participants were from the United Kingdom and that validation in diverse populations is needed.
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