Study finds alarming rise in cancer rates among people under 50 [Video]

NEW YORK — Queen Stewart, a lawyer and mother of two, learned she had breast cancer at age 35. She found the lump herself because she was too young for insurance-paid screenings.

“I just cried, and I just worried so much about whether I would be here for my girls,” Stewart told CBS News. 

According to a new study published this week in BMJ Oncology, cancer rates worldwide have risen dramatically in people under the age of 50.

Researchers examined data from 204 countries between 1990 and 2019. They found that there were more than 3.26 million early-onset cancer cases reported in those countries in 2019, up from 1.82 million in 1990, an increase of 79.1%.

The study defined early-onset cancer as a diagnosis that occurs between the ages of 14 and 49.

The number of early-onset …