‘Harvard Thinking’: Cancer is rising among younger people — why?

The care that older adults with advanced cancer receive often does not align with their preferences and values, study findings suggest.

Cancer is becoming increasingly common among young people, with cases slowly and steadily rising every year for the past decade.

My patient Claire and I were at odds. She was 44 years old and came to my clinic for a second opinion. The diagnosis was stage 3 rectal cancer.

Come mid-2026, it will be 11 years since my oncologist asked, “What would you think about being treated as if you were early stage?”