The US is experiencing a “dramatic and concerning” spike in the rate of new anal cancer cases and deaths — especially among elderly women and young black men, according to a new study.
The incidence of squamous cell carcinoma of the anus — the most common subtype of anal cancer — increased 2.7 percent a year from 2001 to 2015, while anal cancer mortality rates rose 3.1 percent a year during that period, according to NBC News.
At that rate, the disease can be deemed one of the most rapidly accelerating causes of cancer incidence and mortality in the country, according to Ashish Deshmukh, an assistant professor at the UTHealth School of Public Health in Houston and the study’s lead author.
“The rates are increasing very rapidly,” Deshmukh told the “Today” show. “It’s concerning. Traditionally, our perception of anal cancer has been that it’s one of the rarest forms of cancer and because of that, it’s neglected.”
He said in a statement: “Our findings of the dramatic rise in incidence among black millennials and white women, rising rates of distant-stage disease, and increases in anal cancer mortality rates are very concerning.
“Given the historical perception that anal cancer is rare, it is often neglected,” he added, according to CNN.
Actress Farrah Fawcett, who died of the disease 10 years ago, was one of the first high-profile patients to discuss her diagnosis publicly.
Researchers identified about 69,000 cases of anal cancer and more than 12,000 deaths during the 15-year period.
The vast majority of the cases involve the human papillomavirus, but about three-quarters of American adults don’t know HPV causes the disease, according to a recent study also led by Deshmukh.
More than 90 percent of cases of anal cancers are associated with HPV, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Anal cancer, which occurs where the digestive tract ends, is different from colon or rectal cancer and is most similar to cervical cancer. It develops when malignant cells form in anal tissues.
The study “gives numbers to a trend that seems to be happening over the last decade,” Dr. Virginia Shaffer, a colorectal surgeon and associate professor in Emory University’s Winship Cancer Institute, told CNN.
“In that sense it gives us numbers to what we were already expecting,” added Shaffer, who was not involved in the study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
The study found that cases of the disease have increased significantly in people age 50 and older.
The risk of developing anal cancer was five times greater for black men born in the mid-1980s compared to those born in the mid-1940s, according to the study.
That may be because young black men are disproportionately affected by HIV, which raises the risk for developing the disease, Deshmukh said. The risk also doubled among white adults born after 1960.
Anal cancer is preventable through HPV vaccination.
The CDC recommends two doses of the vaccine one year apart for children ages 11 to 12. Young adults up to age 26 can also be vaccinated. Three doses are recommended for people 15 and older.