Striking Surge in Lung Cancer Incidence in Children of Early Life

Lung cancer ranks first in mortality and the third in total cancer cases diagnosed in the US. The epidemiological trends may vary among different age groups, while the dynamics of risk factors evolve as well. We aim to carefully characterize trends of lung cancer among different age groups in the past two decades, by accessing the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) datasets from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and to delineate possible root causes. The SEER datasets were obtained from NCI. Data on environmental risk factors were acquired from the Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Geological Survey. The tobacco consumption data were sourced from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Trends were examined statistically with the Mann-Kendall algorithm. The incidence rate of lung cancer in the <15 age group has been rising in the past two decades, most strikingly among infants in the 0 age group (at birth to less than 1 year old). These findings were unique for lung cancer. The usage of e-Cigarettes among pregnant women increased, while the potential influence of other known risk factors was on the decline. A shrinkage of the infant population and a higher rate of pregnancy loss were observed during the same timespan. A striking rise in lung cancer incidence among infants has been identified that is opposite to the declining trend in the overall population, which might be related to increased e-Cigarette use in pregnant women. Urgent further investigation is warranted to safeguard the newborn population from being continuously affected potentially by lung cancer.