Cancers among young people have almost doubled, says expert
Cancers in people under the age of 50, previously extremely rare, are on the increase. “They have almost doubled,” says Solange Peters, head of medical oncology at the Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) in western Switzerland. In her view, this is “an alarming sign”.
“In the over-65s, the number of cases is increasing, but this is due to the ageing of the population,” she told 24 heures newspaper on Thursday.
In the under-50s, cancers were extremely rare. “That’s changing,” she says. “The figures are small compared with those for older people, but they have almost doubled. This is an alarming sign.” The increase particularly concerns breast, colon, pancreatic, liver, prostate, kidney and uterine cancers.
The overload of artificial sugars and additives in the diet could add to the well-identified risk factors such as obesity, a sedentary lifestyle, smoking and alcohol. “In our so-called developed countries, this evolution seems to be linked to our lifestyle,” Peters said.
‘Unacceptable inequalities’
Other links are emerging, between the over-consumption of red meat and digestive tumours, between pollution and respiratory or urinary tract damage, and between hormones and breast cancer, she explained.
A healthy lifestyle is a good basis for prevention, although genetic and infectious factors can also play a role, says the oncologist. On the other hand, she stresses the importance of early detection, which is often paid for by the cantons.
And it’s better to seek help than to let symptoms linger, she says. “But here, unfortunately, our health insurance system is already creating unacceptable inequalities.”
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Swiss money laundering office registers record number of reports
This content was published on
The Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland (MROS) registered a record number of reports of suspicious activity last year.
Two teens accused of planning terror attack released from custody
This content was published on
The Schaffhausen judiciary has released the two teenagers from custody who allegedly planned bomb attacks in Switzerland.
OECD: Sluggish economic activity slowing growth in Switzerland
This content was published on
Sluggish economic activity at the start of the year is weighing on growth in Switzerland, with GDP expected to fall to 1.1% in 2024.
Report finds mistakes which led to Swiss government data breach
This content was published on
Mistakes were made by both the government and internet company Xplain in the case of a criminal cyber-attack on the Bern-based IT business.
Swiss government wants better gender balance in federal administration
This content was published on
New Swiss government personnel management targets say there must be even more female managers in the federal administration.
Swiss national science foundation funded over 5,000 projects in 2023
This content was published on
In 2023, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) provided a total of CHF961 million worth of funding towards research projects.
Switzerland invites 160 delegations to June Ukraine peace talks
This content was published on
Russia is currently not among the delegations invited to talks aimed at helping bring about peace in the conflict between Moscow and Ukraine.
Survey: air travel most popular way to go on holidays for Swiss
This content was published on
Despite the climate crisis, flying is the most popular mode of transport for private travel – particularly among young, urban and high-income travellers.
Swiss government to use phone data to identify asylum seekers
This content was published on
From April 2025, authorities plan to be able to analyse data from mobile phones, computers and other data carriers to identify asylum seekers.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.