Over the past decade, there has been a significant increase in cancer survival rates. Yet, troublingly, the incidence of certain cancers—including breast, prostate, liver, melanoma, anal, and pancreatic cancers—continues to climb, particularly among younger Americans.

A recent report from the American Cancer Society provides a beacon of hope amidst the cancer crisis, which is projected to affect 2.1 million Americans and claim 626,000 lives by 2026.

Since reaching its peak in 1991, the cancer mortality rate has steadily decreased, showing a 34 percent drop by 2023. This decline has resulted in nearly 5 million fewer cancer deaths. Today, an unprecedented 70 percent of cancer patients are expected to survive at least five years following their diagnosis.

However, some cancers are increasingly affecting younger populations. Colorectal cancer (CRC) poses a significant threat to individuals under 50, a demographic that traditionally faced lower risks compared to seniors.

Since 2004, the incidence of CRC in people aged 20 to 39 has risen consistently by 1.6 percent each year. In those aged 40 to 44, the rate has increased by two percent, and for those aged 50 to 54, the rate has climbed by 2.6 percent.

While overall lung cancer cases have declined, largely due to reduced tobacco use, there is a concerning rise in cases among young, non-smoking adults who are otherwise in good health.

While currently only 10 percent of US lung cancer cases are in people under 55, the proportion of these early-onset diagnoses has been climbing for twenty years. Notably, a growing share of these younger patients have never smoked.

And new diagnoses of breast cancer that have spread to other parts of the body are increasing most rapidly among young women. From 2004 to 2021, cases in patients ages 20 to 39 rose nearly three percent, a rate more than double the increase seen in women in their 70s.

Erin Verscheure was 18 when she was diagnosed with stage four colorectal cancer. It was 2016 and she had just graduated high school when she noticed blood in her stool

Cancer has long been considered a disease of aging because risk increases with the duration of exposure to carcinogens and inflammatory conditions.

Over time, factors like tobacco, UV radiation, alcohol and chronic inflammation cause cumulative DNA damage and create an environment where damaged cells are more likely to progress into cancer.

Cancers in young people, including CRC, are continuously being diagnosed at later, more fatal stages.

Scientists are still untangling the reasons for this, but current theories include delayed diagnosis, often because doctors do not consider cancer as a possibility in a young patient.

At the same time, screening guidelines pertain to older people and awareness among health practitioners and patients remains low.

In colon cancer, for example, the gold-standard screening tests like colonoscopies are not recommended until age 45.  

Doctors believe that rising cancer rates in young people are driven by modern environmental and lifestyle factors, such as pollution, a diet made up of ultra-processed foods and physical activity.

For colon cancer, the primary suspects are the ultra-processed Western diet, low fiber intake and rising rates of obesity, all of which can disrupt the gut microbiome and cause chronic inflammation.

Evan White [left], from Dallas and the eldest of three children, was diagnosed with stage three colon cancer at the age of 24 after going into the hospital to get an abscess removed from his tonsils. He is pictured above at Christmas with his then puppy, a Bernese Mountain Dog, named Lola

Sarah Citron, 33, was diagnosed with breast cancer after noticing a lump in her armpit. Doctors originally blamed the lump on hormonal changes from having her IUD removed to try for another child

For breast cancer, key contributors include later pregnancies, fewer children and increased alcohol use. There is also a strong concern about lifelong exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals found in plastics, pesticides and personal care products.

The concern is that exposure during critical periods of development, such as in utero or during puberty, may subtly ‘reprogram’ breast tissue, increasing susceptibility to cancer years later.

For lung cancer, smoking remains the leading cause overall, but the uptick in cases unrelated to tobacco suggests other powerful factors are at play. Chief among the suspects is chronic, low-level exposure to environmental pollutants, including fine particulate matter, radon gas in homes and secondhand smoke.

Dr Ahmedin Jemal, senior vice president of surveillance, prevention, and health services research at the American Cancer Society and senior author of the report published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, said: ‘Lack of access to high-quality cancer care and socioeconomics continues to play a significant role in persistent racial disparities.’ 

Cancer is not an equal opportunity disease. Persistent and profound racial disparities in who gets cancer, when it is diagnosed and who survives reveal deep inequities in healthcare systems and society.

These disparities are particularly stark for Indigenous populations and for Black communities in the US, who face complex barriers to care rooted in ongoing systemic and structural racism and social disadvantage.

On one hand, the overall cancer death rate has fallen by 34 percent since its peak in 1991, thanks to smoking reductions, earlier detection and improved treatments.

For example, survival for metastatic, meaning cancer that has spread, lung cancer has increased from two percent in the mid-1990s to 10 percent and survival for myeloma has nearly doubled from 32 percent to 62 percent.

But for American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) people, death rates for kidney, liver, stomach and cervical cancers are about double those of White people. 

Notably, lung cancer incidence has yet to decline among AIAN women, a stark contrast to national trends.

Black men have the highest cancer incidence rate of any sex-racial group. The prostate cancer mortality rate for Black men is approximately two to four times higher than that for all other men. 

One in six Black men will develop prostate cancer in their lifetime, compared to one in eight men overall, with some estimates putting the risk for Black men as high as 1 in 4. 

Black women have the highest mortality rates for breast and endometrial cancers, with the latter about double that of all other women. 

Black women face significantly worse breast cancer outcomes than white women, being 38 to 40 percent more likely to die from it, often diagnosed at younger ages and later stages, with more aggressive subtypes like triple-negative breast cancer being more common. 

Cancer researchers also predict that uterine cancers in Black women will rise by over 50 percent from 2018 to 2050, compared to 29 percent in White women. 

The ACS report stated that cancer disparities ‘are largely attributed to a higher prevalence of risk factors, medical mistrust, and lack of insurance, which hinders access to high-quality health care,’ and that ‘unconscious bias and treatment inequality also contribute.’

Since 1991, reduced smoking, better disease management and earlier diagnosis have lowered the overall cancer death rate by 34 percent, preventing an estimated 5 million deaths

‘Efforts need to be focused on these areas so successful targeted cancer control interventions can be more broadly and equitably applied to all populations,’ Jemal added.

The search for cures has been stymied recently due to massive cuts to academic research and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under the Trump Administration. Trump’s NIH axed research grants even after a judge blocked the cuts. 

The federal government cut approximately $2.7 billion in NIH funding over the first three months of 2025, including a 31 percent reduction in cancer research funding through March 2025 compared with the same timeframe in the previous year, according to a May 2025 congressional report. 

According to the National Cancer Institute, President Trump’s 2026 budget request includes an NCI budget of $4.5 billion, a 37 percent decrease from the 2025 fiscal year.