Nearly 1,800 adolescents and young adults aged between 16 and 35 are diagnosed with cancer each year in Belgium, averaging five per day, according to a new report by the Cancer Registry Foundation (CRF) released on Thursday.
Despite the alarming number, this age group shows a high survival rate, with nine out of ten young patients surviving at least five years post-diagnosis. This is the first time that adolescents and young adults have been the focus of a specific study on cancer.
Cancer is relatively rare in this age group, accounting for less than 2.4% of all new cancer diagnoses in Belgium. The most common cancers in young adults include haematological cancers (affecting the blood, bone marrow, or lymph nodes), as well as breast cancer, melanoma, and testicular cancer.
In older age groups, besides breast cancer, prostate, and lung cancers are the most prevalent.
Notably, cancer affects more women than men among young adults, opposite to the trend seen in children and older adults.
The study also highlights that 88% of men and 91% of women diagnosed with cancer in this age group are still alive after five years. After 15 years, survival rates are 82% for men and 85% for women. The outlook, however, varies significantly depending on the type of cancer.
For instance, the five-year mortality rate for young adults with thyroid cancer is below 1%, while it rises to 53% for lung cancer, which remains very rare in this age group.
