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The unexplained rise of cancer among millennials
Increasing numbers of younger people in the developed world are being diagnosed with the disease and scientists are not sure why
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The past 30 years have seen an upsurge in so-called “early onset” cancer cases in the under-50s.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: PEXELS
Sarah Neville and Amy Borrett
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When Mr Paddy Scott had agonising stomach pains in 2017, the possibility of cancer never entered his head. The British expedition photographer and film-maker, whose work often took him into rugged or dangerous terrain, was just 34 years old and prided himself on his physical fitness.
After his doctor referred him to hospital for a colonoscopy, the clinician who administered it asked if he would take part in a trial of a new blood test designed to detect tumours. The invitation struck Mr Scott as strange. “I remember thinking, yes, but I’ll be the kind of ‘control’ that doesn’t have it,” he says. Later he received the devastating news that he had advanced bowel cancer which had spread to his liver.
