Cancer in Young Adults: What in the World is Happening?

Itchy and Bitchy

Karen Nickell

Sexuality, Medicine, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 10 May 2025

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Karen addresses the troubling rise in early-onset cancers among adults under 50, particularly women. Drawing on the latest research, she discusses contributing factors—from delayed screenings and family history to gut health, environmental exposures, and systemic inflammation. Karen also highlights how current healthcare gaps, lifestyle factors, and even prenatal influences may be playing a role in this growing health crisis.

Visit our website itchyandbitchy.com to read blog posts on the many topics we have covered on the show.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The content of this podcast is provided for general informational purposes only and is not intended
0:05.9	as, nor should it be considered a substitute for professional medical advice.
0:11.1	Oh, how I feel.
0:14.2	Bitchy, bitchy, bitchy, bitchy, bitchy, bitchy, bitchy, bitchy, bitchy, bitchy and bitchy.
0:32.2	Hello, everyone. This is Karen Nicol family nurse practitioner, and this is Itchy and Bitchie, a podcast that provides answers to your many unanswered health questions.
0:36.2	A quick reminder about my course called the perimenopause answer.
0:37.6	If you are going through this phase of life called perimenopause, I would love to have the opportunity to talk to you about the
0:42.9	course to see if it's the right fit for you. There is a link on our website, itchy and bichy.com
0:48.8	and our Facebook page I and B podcast, where you can schedule an appointment for a Zoom call with me.
0:57.1	When you make an appointment, I will be sitting at my desk waiting for you to join the
1:01.7	one-on-one Zoom call. When launching into the decades of young adulthood, the focus is usually
1:09.8	on starting a career, making new friends, or finding a partner,
1:14.6	traveling the world, or just having fun. One thing that is not on the list is worrying about cancer.
1:22.6	Unfortunately, cancer is occurring in more adults at younger ages before they turn 40 or 50
1:30.4	or sometimes even earlier.
1:33.3	In the 2025 release of the American Cancer Society's Statistics publication, the report reveals
1:40.8	that for women younger than 50, the risk of developing cancer is 82% higher than men,
1:50.6	up from 51% since 2002. This marks the first time cancer incidence rates in women under 50 have surpassed men. What in the world is happening?
2:05.6	The higher incidence rate is contributed to the cases of breast cancer, which predominantly affects
2:12.3	women. And younger women tend to get more aggressive forms of breast cancer than older women.
2:19.0	Why is this happening?
2:20.7	Well, higher obesity rates, increased alcohol use, and having pregnancies later in life
	...

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