According to a study recently published in the journal Nature Review Clinical Oncology, the incidence of cancer in adults under the age of 50 has risen worldwide.
The study was conducted jointly by scholars from medical institutions around the world, including Korea, the United States, and France, and analyzed the registration records of 14 types of cancer, including breast cancer, colorectal cancer, endometrial cancer, and liver cancer, in 44 countries.
The research team believes that shift work, lack of sleep, obesity, diabetes, and Western-style diets contributed to the increased cancer incidence.
In addition, analysis results showed that the younger you are, the higher the risk of cancer. The younger the patient, the faster the cancer cells spread, the more often they are excluded from the age range for cancer screening, and the detection of cancer is often delayed.
The cancer with the most notably increased incidence was colorectal cancer. Each year, the incidence of colorectal cancer among young adults increased by an average of 2% in the United States, Australia, Canada, France, and Japan, 3% in the United Kingdom, and 5% in Korea.
Korea, which shows a high rate of increase, has the highest rate of colorectal cancer in the world. According to the World Health Organization’s ‘World Colorectal Cancer Incidence’, the incidence rate of colorectal cancer in Korea is 45 per 100,000, the highest among 184 countries.
The incidence rate is increasing every year because Koreans’ spicy and salty eating habits have been added to Western diets centered on meat.
According to the National Health Insurance Corporation, the incidence of colorectal cancer has steadily increased since the age of 40, and the incidence rate is expected to increase as people in their 20s and 30s age.
Professor Kim Gwang-ho of Ewha Womans University Seoul Hospital’s Department of Surgery emphasizes that early detection of colorectal cancer that occurs at a young age is important. 
