Accelerated Biological Aging Linked to Rising Early‑Onset Cancer Risk

Scientists analysing data from more than 154,000 UK Biobank participants report that people born in recent decades show higher biological ages than their chronological ages. This accelerated ageing increases the overall risk of developing cancer before age 55 by roughly 15%.

The strongest associations were observed for colorectal, lung, breast and uterine cancers. Different organs age at different rates; for example, faster ageing of the immune system correlates with lung cancer risk, while accelerated ageing of adipose tissue relates to colorectal cancer. Researchers suggest that a combination of long‑term lifestyle and environmental factors—such as sedentary habits, poor diet, chronic stress, alcohol consumption, air pollution and chemical exposure—may collectively drive this faster biological ageing.

The findings, published in Nature Medicine, propose that the growing incidence of early‑onset cancers may be partly explained by the cumulative effect of these factors on biological ageing.