Cancer diagnoses are rising among adults under 55, and a new line of research points to accelerated biological aging as a possible factor. The work, described in a ScienceDaily report, found that people from more recent birth cohorts tend to have bodies that look biologically older than those of earlier generations did at the same age.
Biological aging is not the same as chronological aging. A person's biological age reflects the accumulation of wear and tear on the body, and when it outpaces calendar age, that is considered accelerated aging. The report proposes that this type of aging may help explain why younger adults are increasingly receiving cancer diagnoses.
Since this is a single report, the evidence is not yet a full causal explanation. But it adds to a growing effort to understand early-onset cancer by looking beyond age itself and at how quickly the body changes over time.