The rate of appendix cancer has tripled among Generation X and quadrupled among millennials compared to previous generations, a new study found.
The study, published June 10 in Annals of Internal Medicine, used the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results program to analyze appendix cancer data. Between 1975 and 2019, there were 4,858 cases of appendix cancer.
Here are four things to know:
1. Appendix cancers are rare, occurring in about 1 million to 2 per million people in the U.S. per year.
2. Previous research found that 1 in every 3 appendix cancers are diagnosed among adults younger than 50, the study’s lead author, Andreana Holowatyj, PhD, an assistant professor of hematology and oncology at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, Tenn., told NBC News.
3. Most appendix cancer patients are diagnosed between ages 18 and 49.
4. About 95% of appendix cancers are found after a person has appendicitis and the appendix is removed and examined. Appendix cancers are not easily found on abdominal scans or in colonoscopies, making it a difficult cancer for which to screen. This means many patients find out when the cancer is in a later stage.
