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Is early-onset cancer an emerging global epidemic?

nature.com

181–190 of 280 posts

Re: Is early-onset cancer an emerging global epidemic?

#182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is telling that people are unwilling to even talk about that. Telling that people fall off science for their political ideologies.

It's telling that people can't help but bring up some very-recent thing they're upset about for dubious reasons, when commenting on an article discussing a trend going back decades . People are "unwilling", in this thread, because it's irrelevant . Unless we're going for "all vaccines cause cancer", but from the context ("that vaccine", "It is safe and effective.") it seems we're talking about the Covid-19 vaccines.…

This vaccine is special, as we all know.

And it's a possible cause that I offered. The parent was proposing a list. I added to it.

And now I have been censored. Insane.

Re: Is early-onset cancer an emerging global epidemic?

#183

I feel like there has been a great increase in mental health issues: anxiety, depression, etc., especially among youth. I don’t recall these being major issues from when I was a youth in the late 80s and early 90s. I’m told that I’m wrong and people just didn’t talk about it so I wasn’t aware of it. But even amongst close family members and friends it wasn’t a thing. Now, I’ve seen some claim it is the post 9/11 worl…

Yeah, especially young people do have it bad. One interesting thing is that as society becomes more and more feminist, it's the young women who fare the worst, and especially the demographics most likely to be intersectional activists.

Maybe not all ideologies are good for us? At a quick glance, a lot of the intersectional feminist/activist modes of thought seem to be the polar opposites of what eg. cognitive behavioral therapy and the stoicism it's inspired by advocate (eg. others are responsible for your emotional reactions/state, so to control your mood you have to control others vs. you are responsible for and in control of your own emotional reactions and mental state and you can improve your mood by honing yourself).

We know CBT is effective for getting rid of dysfunctional thought patterns and lessening mental health symptoms. In that light, these numbers seem unfortunate but entirely predictable.

https://i.imgur.com/uRX0A9u.png

Re: Is early-onset cancer an emerging global epidemic?

#184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention living in America is like playing life on hard mode; at least relative to other OECD countries. There's a lot more things you have to take care of / think about in America. There's a level of mental overhead that does not exist in other developed countries that many Americans do not realize are optional. eg health insurance, education, unemployment safety net, or even little things like way too many co…

It’s hard mode if you’re poor and easy mode if you’re rich. For the top 1-2 deciles I think most of these things are much better in the US than other countries. I’m a long time proponent of universal healthcare, but I’ve heard terrible experiences in Canada and the UK in getting relatively basic treatment in a timely manner. I think a lot of HN doesn’t understand that all the shitty things about the US that people fr…

You're right and wrong. You are right that it is hard if you are poor and easy if you are rich. But you are wrong that HN or people outside of the US do not understand that it is only hard for poor people. It's just that external to the US, people care about the welfare of poor people more. The fact that you felt it necessary to state that caveat illustrates how systemic problems which victimize poor people can be excused and remain unchanged in the US.

For context I've lived for decades in both Australia and the US. Pros and cons in both cultures, and I love both.

Re: Is early-onset cancer an emerging global epidemic?

#185
post #112

I feel like there has been a great increase in mental health issues: anxiety, depression, etc., especially among youth. I don’t recall these being major issues from when I was a youth in the late 80s and early 90s. I’m told that I’m wrong and people just didn’t talk about it so I wasn’t aware of it. But even amongst close family members and friends it wasn’t a thing. Now, I’ve seen some claim it is the post 9/11 worl…

> but I have to wonder if there is some chemical we are exposed to more that might be causing mental disorders in addition to early onset cancers. It's always easy to point the finger at a single cause, but the reality is that it's a series of factors that together act like a sophisticated, compound "attack" to the psyche: - Social media weakens your self-confidence and makes you feel in a constant state of inferiori…

> - The "post 9/11 world" you mention, is simply a result of a general worsening of Western political relations over time, which are becoming especially evident recently. That state of turmoil weakens your sense of stability and security, making the future look bleak - i.e. your future self.

The relations have not simply become worse, they have been very deliberately driven to be worse:

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/media-great...

Just look at these hockey sticks. People talk about divisive rhetoric, but hot damn.

Re: Is early-onset cancer an emerging global epidemic?

#186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s hard mode if you’re poor and easy mode if you’re rich. For the top 1-2 deciles I think most of these things are much better in the US than other countries. I’m a long time proponent of universal healthcare, but I’ve heard terrible experiences in Canada and the UK in getting relatively basic treatment in a timely manner. I think a lot of HN doesn’t understand that all the shitty things about the US that people fr…

You're right and wrong. You are right that it is hard if you are poor and easy if you are rich. But you are wrong that HN or people outside of the US do not understand that it is only hard for poor people. It's just that external to the US, people care about the welfare of poor people more. The fact that you felt it necessary to state that caveat illustrates how systemic problems which victimize poor people can be ex…

I brought it up more to illustrate that the work culture of the US is not just a result of precarious financial situations due to lack of a safety net.

Re: Is early-onset cancer an emerging global epidemic?

#187

I feel like there has been a great increase in mental health issues: anxiety, depression, etc., especially among youth. I don’t recall these being major issues from when I was a youth in the late 80s and early 90s. I’m told that I’m wrong and people just didn’t talk about it so I wasn’t aware of it. But even amongst close family members and friends it wasn’t a thing. Now, I’ve seen some claim it is the post 9/11 worl…

Yeah, especially young people do have it bad. One interesting thing is that as society becomes more and more feminist, it's the young women who fare the worst, and especially the demographics most likely to be intersectional activists. Maybe not all ideologies are good for us? At a quick glance, a lot of the intersectional feminist/activist modes of thought seem to be the polar opposites of what eg. cognitive behavio…

CBT is not effective for lessening mental health symptoms. See e.g. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.116.187773

>the difference between CBT and pill placebo was a standardised mean difference of –0.22

The effect measured in this meta-analysis is a less than two point drop on a 52 point scale (Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression). That is not clinically significant.

Re: Is early-onset cancer an emerging global epidemic?

#188
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should be able to see the 'real' increase from death rates, assuming the cause of death is correctly identified as cancer pre or post mortem.

Cancer death rates are going down [1], which to me means we are probably better at treating cancer but also probably finding it more often even when not life threatening and might have gone on unnoticed in an earlier time. Also we are getting better at treating other diseases and living longer, leading to being more likely to get cancer since if you live long enough you will almost certainly get some form of it. 1. h…

It's slow progress, but we can dream of a day where getting a cancer diagnosis is not a death sentence, but rather something like HIV. Not really curable, but with the right treatment, you can live a fairly normal life. You die with cancer, but not of cancer.

Re: Is early-onset cancer an emerging global epidemic?

#189

I feel like there has been a great increase in mental health issues: anxiety, depression, etc., especially among youth. I don’t recall these being major issues from when I was a youth in the late 80s and early 90s. I’m told that I’m wrong and people just didn’t talk about it so I wasn’t aware of it. But even amongst close family members and friends it wasn’t a thing. Now, I’ve seen some claim it is the post 9/11 worl…

The smartphone era directly seems to coincide with elevated mental health problems.

I think porn and social media are responsible. Those two things, heavily changing neurotransmitter and hormone patterns, are significantly amplified when everyone has a smartphone.

Re: Is early-onset cancer an emerging global epidemic?

#190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Early-stage cancer survivorship rates are much higher, and early detection catches cancers at an earlier stage. Studies have been done that show the benefit of early screening, separate from the bias.

Do those studies account for the (emotional and monetary) cost of false positives from those early detection?

I don't think monetary cost was accounted for, and I assume by emotional cost you don't mean the hits to someone's health due to emotions (which are accounted for). It's really hard to get diagnosed with a cancer, but early detection is very helpful for improving outcomes.

In the US (in particular), there is a lot more monetary cost to someone's late-stage cancer treatment, and then eventual death, than there is to early-stage cancer treatment, so I would assume that early screening tests are monetarily net beneficial based on the reduction in cancer deaths.

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