Are indulgent lifestyle practices the driving determinants behind the rising cancer rates in young adult men?

Abstract

10603 Background: This study aims to determine trends and incidences of cancers associated with social behaviors including tobacco use, excess body fat, alcohol consumption, insufficient physical activity, and human papillomavirus infection among male adults in the U.S. over a 20 year study period. Methods: Cancer incidence was extracted from the United States Cancer Statistics Public Use Database (USCS). Tobacco associated cancers were defined as: oropharyngeal, esophageal, stomach, colorectal, liver, pancreas, larynx, lung, kidney, bladder, and acute myeloid leukemia cancers. Obesity associated cancers were defined as: colorectal, liver, kidney, and thyroid cancers. Alcohol associated cancers were defined as: oropharyngeal, esophageal, colorectal, liver, and larynx cancers. Physical-inactivity associated cancers were defined as colorectal cancers. HPV associated cancers were defined as: oropharyngeal, penile, and anorectal cancers. SEER*Stat 8.4.1.2 and Joinpoint regression program 5.0.2 were employed to calculate estimated and actual incidence rates per 100,000 women. Results: Based on USCS data, the 2021 incidence of tobacco, obesity, alcohol, physical-inactivity, and HPV associated cancers for males was 217.4, 111.9, 80.9, 27.2, and 9.5 per 100,000, respectively. Moreover, besides HPV associated cancers which had an average annual percent change (AAPC) from 2001-2021 of 0.9% (p<0.001) among males, physical-inactivity, alcohol, tobacco and obesity associated cancers decreased at -2.63% (p<0.001), -1.29% (p<0.001), -1.28% (p<0.001), and -0.41% (p<0.001), respectively. Evaluating cancer trends among young adult males, physical-inactivity, obesity, alcohol, and tobacco associated cancers have been increasing for males aged 20-49, each with the sharpest rise among those aged 20-24 at 4.15% (p=0.037), 3.43% (p<0.001), 2.09% (p<0.001), and 1.22% (p<0.001), respectively. In contrast, incidence for these cancers has been decreasing among all older age groups of men (≥50). Among 20-24 year old males in 2021, the incidence of tobacco, obesity, alcohol, and physical-inactivity associated cancers was 6.46, 4.8, 2.13, and 1.16 per 100,000 men, respectively. Lastly, HPV associated cancers decreased among all males younger than 55 and increased for older male age groups (≥55) - particularly for the 65-69 age group (AAPC: 2.17%, p<0.001). Conclusions: Of cancer-related sociobehavioral lifestyle risk factors, young men were most impacted by cancers associated with tobacco use. However, younger males observed the highest annual increases in cancer incidence for these modifiable risk factors, particularly in physical-inactivity in obesity and physical-inactivity associated and obesity associated cancers. Further research is warranted to investigate whether diet, physical inactivity, alcohol, tobacco, or HPV among younger adults play a larger role in these trends.