"The question is whether there are special reasons these young people are developing cancers that are usually only typical of adults," said Jillian Birch, director of Cancer Research United Kingdom's Pediatric and Familial Cancer Research Group.
Cervical cancer rates for all ages dropped across England in the past three decades - except in teenagers and young adults. Among teens ages 15 to 19, the rate increased by nearly 7 percent each year, according to the research funded by Cancer Research UK.
Skin cancer rates increased in all age groups but most markedly among people in their 20s. The yearly rate increased by about 4 percent in people ages 20 to 24, compared with 2.5 percent for those 35 to 39. The actual number of cases in England remains small, however, with an average of 40 cases of cervical cancer a year, and of 140 cases of skin cancer annually.
Most common cancer types in young people include testicular cancer, Hodgkin's disease and brain tumors. Birch and colleagues found that teens with these cancers were more likely to have come from affluent backgrounds.
Associated Press
Weight loss
Parents often make dieting harder on their teenagers
Parents who think their teenager is overweight are no more likely to banish junk food and keep healthful foods around the house than those who don't - or to encourage habits such as family meals, less eating in front of the tube and more exercise. But they are more likely to urge their teen to diet.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Minnesota and published this month in Pediatrics, was part of a larger one gauging the weight and eating habits of 902 Minneapolis-St. Paul adolescents through interviews with the mother or primary caregiver. Five years later, the project returned to 314 parents who had accurately identified their child as overweight - and found that encouragement to diet was counterproductive. Teens who had been encouraged were more likely to be overweight than those who were not.
Study lead author Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, a University of Minnesota professor, said the findings are in line with others showing that efforts to restrict a child's dietary intake can backfire.
Los Angeles Times
