The number of teenagers and young adults developing cancer is on the rise, and they face tough challenges getting proper diagnosis and treatment, according to a new report.
There are often delays in diagnosis - largely because doctors rarely consider that young adults could have cancer, the report says. Young people often don't feel comfortable in support groups designed for older adults, and often deal with devastating side effects of treatment such as infertility and substantially higher odds of cancer later in life.
"Young people need support from diagnosis to cure and beyond," said Ronald Barr, a professor of pediatrics at McMaster University in Hamilton, and chair of the adolescents and young adults committee at the Canadian Cancer Society.
The society's report - Cancer Statistics 2009 - says about 2,075 young people aged 15 to 29 will be diagnosed with cancer this year. About 325 cancer deaths are expected in this age group, which represents 1.5 per cent of total cancer deaths.
But the relatively small number of deaths doesn't reflect the huge impact the disease has on the young patients, their families and society, said Loraine Marrett, a senior scientist at Cancer Care Ontario and chair of the statistics steering committee at the cancer society. There is a "lack of appreciation" for the patterns of cancer in young people, she said, "and for the challenges they face fighting a deadly disease at a time when they should be studying, building careers and starting families."
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