In the UK, around 1,200 new cancer cases are diagnosed annually in female young people (aged 15-24). While cancer diagnoses for young people account for less than 1% of all cases, rates have been steadily increasing in females. About 10% of all breast cancer diagnoses happen in women under 45, about 5,000 women in the UK annually. While this might not appear to be much, the average for cancer is already 1 in 2 people and reports are finding it increasingly popular in young women.
In the UK, women above the age of 45 are invited for a mammogram screening every three years- but should Science be decreasing this age to young women due to the increase in diagnoses? Cervical screening every 3 years is required of women from 24 onwards to decrease the risk of cervical cancer. The highest rates for breast cancer are often seen in the 30-34 age group, who are a decade too young to be invited for triennial checkups. Science should be making screenings more accessible to women from a younger age, particularly with the positive correlation of diagnoses in recent studies.
Even though gender-based bias is improving in Science, women are still under-represented in cancer trials. Out of the 5157 patients who participated in oncology trials (that led to the FDA approval of 17 new drugs in 2018), only 38% were women. Furthermore, the medical field still doesn’t fully understand discrepancies between how cancer affects men and women, and black women face even more barriers to specialised health care. Pregnant and nursing women are often excluded from clinical trials, which may become an issue if more women in their 20s and 30s continue to be diagnosed with cancer. A new attitude to women’s cancer research needs to be had before reports continue to increase.