Cancer deaths in under-50s down 44%: JAMA study

The cancer death rate among patients aged under 50 has fallen by 44% since 1990 despite fears that early-onset cancer is becoming more common, researchers have found.

While studies showed rising cancer incidence in young patients, the researchers said it was difficult to disentangle the extent to which this reflected improved screening and detection.

Mortality was a less biased measure of “progress against cancer”, their research letter published in JAMA said.

They analysed 1.3 million cancer deaths of young Americans and found that age-standardised mortality fell from 25.5 per 100,000 to 14.2 between 1990 and 2023.

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