September 16, 2026
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U.S. cancer incidence rates among people 15 to 49 increased for 14 types of cancer between 1990 and 2019, including pancreatic, colon and breast cancer, the American Association for Cancer Research's 2026 report shows.
Cancer mortality continues to decline nationwide, with nearly 5 million cancer deaths averted between 1991 and 2024, a new report shows. This drop has followed advances in immunotherapy, liquid biopsy and other breakthroughs.
But more than 2 million Americans will be diagnosed with cancer this year, and that number is expected to rise to 2.5 million by 2050. Also, early-onset cancers among adults ages 18 to 49 are still rising, especially among women, according to the American Association for Cancer Research's 2026 report.
Globally, the number of cancer diagnoses in people under 50 increased 80% between 1990 and 2019.
U.S. cancer incidence rates among people 15 to 49 increased for 14 types of cancer, including pancreatic, colon and breast cancer. The rate of diagnoses was 78% higher in women in this age group in 2023. Twenty years prior, young women only were 55% more likely to be diagnosed with cancer than men.
Why this is happening is unclear.
Emerging research suggests chronic psychological stress can weaken the body's immune response to cancer cells and tumor growth. Climate change and environmental contaminants also may be contributing, the report says.
The report, released Wednesday, highlights a Delaware County woman's cancer journey as emblematic of the way early-onset cancers are increasing at the same time that medical advancements are reducing cancer mortality.
Carolyn Searles, of Wallingford, fell into the early-onset category when she was diagnosed with an aggressive type of breast cancer at 36. Searles had known she was at high risk due to an inherited BRCA1 mutation.
Despite having undergone genetic counseling at Penn Medicine and having had a preventative double mastectomy in 2021, biopsy results from a tumor she discovered in her armpit in 2022 confirmed that she had stage IIB triple-negative breast cancer, a subtype often associated with BRCA1 mutations.
Searles was pregnant with her second child at the time, but she received chemotherapy and delivered a healthy son. Searles continued chemotherapy, had immunotherapy treatment and further surgery after her pregnancy.
Advances in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, such as genetic testing, risk-stratified screening and immunotherapy, all helped Searles go into remission. Today, she is cancer free.
The American Association for Cancer Research report also cites other emerging technologies in cancer diagnoses and treatment, such as histotripsy, a non-invasive treatment that uses high-frequency sound waves to destroy tumors while avoiding adjacent tissue, and molecularly targeted therapies that cause less damage to healthy cells by aiming directly at molecular and cellular drivers of cancer.
The Food and Drug Administration approved nearly 200 new cancer treatments between 2019 and 2024, according to the report.
For cancer research to continue to push ahead, cancer research funds must be implemented as Congress intended, the report says, noting that the Trump administration "has prevented appropriated funds from being awarded in a timely and predictable manner and administered without unnecessary delay or interference."
To continue to advance cancer research, Congress needs to grant $51 billion for the National Institutes of Health, including at least $8 billion for the National Cancer Institute, the report says.
