Cancer incidence on the rise in NJ, and the patients are younger

⚫ More than 57,000 new cancer cases are expected in New Jersey this year

⚫ Middle-aged individuals are making up a bigger share of diagnoses

⚫ Many cases are avoidable with different lifestyle choices, experts say

Treatment of cancer has come a long way, but it's going to have to take on a lot more patients over the next several months.

In 2024, for the first time ever, the projected number of new diagnoses in the U.S. is expected to top 2 million, according to a report published Wednesday by American Cancer Society.

That includes 57,740 estimated new cancer cases in the Garden State, where the disease is expected to kill more than 15,000 people this year alone, according to the report.

Cancer patients getting younger

Mortality related to cancer is declining, but there's increasing incidence for six of the top 10 cancers (breast, prostate, melanoma, kidney, endometrial, and pancreas), the ACS report finds.

And incidence of these cancers is rising at an even higher rate in New Jersey, according to Arnold Baskies, chair of the ACS Global Cancer Control Advisory Board.

"The most disconcerting part of it is that we're seeing cancers in younger people," Baskies said.

People under the age of 65 are making up a greater share of diagnoses in the U.S., the report finds. Middle-aged individuals (50 to 64) represent 30% of diagnoses in 2019-2020, compared to 25% in 1995. At the same time, individuals aged 65 years and older are making up a smaller share of cases.

Cancer incidence in children has leveled off following decades of rising numbers, but rates continue to increase among individuals aged 15 to 19, according to the report.

Incidence of colorectal cancer is on the rise in people younger than 55, the report says. Colorectal cancer is now the leading cause of cancer death in men. It's the second leading cancer death in women under 50 years old. Twenty years ago, colorectal cancer was the fourth leading cause of cancer death among these demographics.

New Jersey will record an estimated 4,240 new colorectal cancer cases in 2024, ACS predicts.

Ahmedin Jemal, senior author of the study, says there's been an alarming continuous sharp increase in this type of cancer.

"We need to halt and reverse this trend by increasing uptake of screening, including awareness of non-invasive stool tests with follow-up care, in people 45-49 years," Jemal said. "Up to one-third of people diagnosed before 50 have a family history of genetic predisposition and should be screening before age 45 years."

Cancer prevention and treatment

In the face of rising cancer diagnoses, the nation has been improving one's ability to survive the disease.

From 1991 to today, there's been a 33% decrease in mortality, according to ACS. That equates to more than 4 million fewer deaths over the past few decades.

Genetic predisposition plays a role in one's likelihood to receive a cancer diagnose in their lifetime. But there are also several factors that one can control in order to limit their odds of becoming a future statistic.

Forty-two percent of the cases that will be diagnosed in 2024 could have been avoided, Baskies said. Nineteen percent, he said, are caused by smoking, and around the same amount are directly related to excess body weight, alcohol consumption, poor nutrition, and physical inactivity.

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