Figures that require greater monitoring. Certain cancers, the brain, the kidney, the breast or the colorectal, have seen their impact between young populations, or people aged 15 to 39, between 2000 and 2020 in certain departments of Metropolitan France, according to a study published in early March by France of Public Health (SPF).
A phenomenon that not only concerns France. According to another study published in 2023 by the British Medical Journal Oncology, the number of new cases of cancer among children under 50 has increased 79% in less than thirty years, from 1.82 million in 1990 to 3.26 million in 2019.
“A fact that remains weird”
However, these figures require healing. The explosion observed by the British medical magazine Oncology can be explained in the first place for population growth or the best diagnoses.
It is also advisable to take tweezers on the study by Public Health France, the National Cancer Institute, the Francim cancer record network, civil hospices in Lyon and the Cancer League. The 54,735 cases observed between 2000 and 2020 among young people aged 15 to 39 were registered in only 19 departments, or 24% of the French population.
“This is a descriptive study, carried out in the areas of the metropolitan territory covered by a cancer registry and not all,” insists with BFMTV.com, Dr. Claire Morgand, Director of Observation, Data Sciences and Evaluation at the National Cancer Institute.
And above all, “the number of cancers remains weird in this population,” abounds the specialist.
Before adding: “The increase in cancers in adolescents and young adults is, ultimately, very progressive and very low when the number of cases and not only percentages are observed.”
“Our lifestyle has been transformed”
For example, for glioblastomas: the aggressive form of brain cancer: an increase in the incidence of more than 6% per year between 2000 and 2020 was observed. “The incidence has doubled in twenty years. But in practice, we have gone from 4 to 9 cases more than 1 million,” says the Iris pauporté de la league against cancer with figures, 233 cases in twenty years.
As for kidney cancer, “the annual increase is 4.61 %. This represents, during the period 2000 to 2020, 866 kidney cancers, or 43 cases per year,” for example, Dr. Claire Morgand gives us.
Cancers are also progressing in all age strata and continue to mainly touch aging populations. In 2023, Public Health France registered “969 new cases of cancers among young people aged 15-19 and 1,335 new cases among young people aged 20 to 24” against 433,000 cases identified in the general population. The median diagnosis age is 70 years in men and 68 years in women, the National Cancer Institute specifies.
Keep in mind that a drop in the incidence of 0.79% per year between 2015 and 2020 was found between young populations.
“Our lifestyle has been transformed”
If specialists do not adopt an alarmist speech, they are attentive and wonder about this fact. They want to understand the causes to warn them better.
At this stage, due to lack of sufficient data, no study gives concrete explanations. “Today we have hypothesis, but we have no manifestation,” said Dr. Pascal Pujol, a doctor at Montpellier Chu, specialized in oncogenetics. “We do not know the cause, but we can advance very logically in the variations in our environment in a broad sense.”
“Our lifestyle has been transformed, and it is interesting to see that it can influence our biology,” abounds the president of the French predictive and personalized medicine society.
Dr. Cristina Smolenschi, a medical oncologist at Gustave Roussy Center warns for her part that there is no “unique cause.”
The first track? The evolution of eating habits. Ultra formed products are now occupying a considerable place in our plates. Dr. Cristina Smolenschi points out the “alteration of our microbiota”, for example, due to excess fatty products, red meat or even antibiotics during childhood. “It seems that this process accelerates among young people,” he says.
Obesity, which increasingly affects young people, is particularly analyzed. “Obesity could be an explanatory factor in increasing the cancers of the digestive system, including colorectal and renal cancers,” according to the latest French study conducted by Dr. Emmanuel Dersands.
“Obesity, overweight and sedentary lifestyle are quite strong hypotheses with respect to digestive cancers, particularly the colon and rectum,” confirms Dr. Claire Morgand of the National Cancer Institute. But that remains to be demonstrated. “The work is underway.”
According to the general director of the Gustave Roussy Institute interviewed by BFMTV, Professor Fabrice Barlesi, the people born in the 90s or later have 3.6 times more risk of developing colon cancer and 2.5 times more risk of developing pancreas cancer.
Environmental pollution, responsible?
Environmental pollution, microplastics or even pesticides are also in the viewfinder.
“We significantly underestimate the question of endocrine disruptors, which has an effect on the growth of chronic diseases in general, certain cancers, premature, etc.”, deplores with the newspaper Le Monde, André Cicolella, president of the network of health environments. “There are many data and it is difficult to be heard.”
A study published in the scientific newspaper Lancet respiratory medicine Last February, he points out that air pollution and, therefore, fine particles would be partly responsible for the increase in lung cancers in non -smokers.
“This refers to all and, therefore, to the young people who are exposed. We will certainly see later that there is a cumulative exposure,” says Dr. Pascal Pujol.
The doctor who specializes in cancer of cancer specifies that young adults are also “particularly fragile in front of mutagen agents, radiation, chemical pollutants” because “their cells are renewed more quickly.” “If you introduce a mutation at that time, you will potentially induce cancer much faster,” he explains.
Another hypothesis explored by the National Food Security Agency (ANSES): the impact of electromagnetic waves. The French establishment must publish a report soon on this issue, Dr. Claire Morgand tells us.
Obesity, alcohol and tobacco, risk factors
As with all the strata of the population, alcohol, tobacco or as previously cited, obesity are risk factors on the table. Keep in mind that the daily consumption of alcohol in young people has been decreasing for thirty years, but has been replaced by “more frequent specific alcoholizations, reports the inter -ministerial mission to combat drugs and addictive behaviors. Since 2000, the level of daily smoking has decreased slightly, says the French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Trends.
To date, scientists specify that the consequences of these risk factors generally feel over time. Therefore, it is complicated to weave a direct link with the increase in cancers among young people.
“For certain risk factors, strong temporalities are needed to have repercussions,” says Dr. Pascal Pujol emphasizing that the currently observed cancers are the consequences “of what has been happening for 20 years.” Unlike the power supply, for example, which can have a faster effect.
In addition, Dr. Cristina Smolenschi points out that “85% of young cancer patients are not obese, do not smoke, do not drink …” “It is contradictory with everything we expect,” he emphasizes.
In any case, adopting a way of life favorable to health: not smoking, reducing its alcohol consumption, having a balanced and varied diet while promoting regular physical activity remains essential to reduce the risk of developing cancer later, Dr. Claire Morgand reminds us. “Almost half of the cancers could be avoided every year in France limiting our exposure to these factors,” he insists.
The National Cancer Institute also launched an information campaign for young people from 18 to 25 years on social networks this Wednesday, April 2 to “raise awareness of life habits that is preferable to take as soon as possible” to limit the risk of cancer that could occur from 30 to 40 years later.
Several projects are carried out to try to explain the increase in certain cancers among young people. The data is rare, the countries mutualize the data to advance.
The National Cancer Institute participates, for example, in the Prospect Project that aims to “determine why the incidence of early cancers in adults increases to global scale.” In association with the British and American research centers, Cancer Research UK and the National Institute of Cancer of the United States. In the end, To counteract them.
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Source: BFM TV
