From 2020 to 2023, Cancer Treatment Rates Increased 11.7 Percent in Patients Aged 18 to 29, According to FAIR Health Study

January 21, 2025

From 2020 to 2023, cancer treatment rates (defined as the percentage of patients with cancer who received medical services in a given year out of all patients in a given age group who received medical services in that same year) increased in patients aged 18 to 49. The greatest increase was 11.7 percent in patients aged 18 to 29, followed by 7.5 percent in patients aged 40 to 49 and 7.2 percent in patients aged 30 to 39. By comparison, the increase in patients aged 50 to 59 was 5.5 percent. These and other findings are reported in a recently released FAIR Health white paper: Cancer in Younger Adults: A Claims-Based Study.

In this report, FAIR Health delves into its repository of over 49 billion commercial healthcare claim records, the nation’s largest such database, to examine cancer trends in adults aged 18 to 49 during the period 2016-2023. This study focuses on cancer treatment rates by age over time, cancer treatment rates by state, types of cancer, treatment costs, cancer vaccine utilization rates,1 cancer screening utilization rates and provider specialties treating cancer patients. The key findings include the following:

  • The five most common types of cancer in adults aged 18 to 49 in 2023 were (in order from most to least common) those of the skin, breast, thyroid and other endocrine glands, digestive organs and female genital organs.
  • Over a longer period, from 2016 to 2023, overall cancer treatment rates decreased in patients aged 18 to 49. Possibly the most striking drop was in human papillomavirus (HPV)-related cancers, where the percentage of patients receiving treatment for HPV-related cancers fell 27.9 percent in the 18-29 age group. There were several notable exceptions to the decline. For patients aged 40 to 49, the cancer treatment rate increased 11.2 percent for cancers of the digestive system, 18.2 percent for colorectal cancer and 8.0 percent for HPV-related cancers.
  • Among patients aged 18 to 49 diagnosed with cancer in 2022, the median2 allowed amount3 for all medical services received during the initial 12 months after their diagnosis was more than $8,400. That is almost eight times higher than the median allowed amount for similarly aged patients without cancer who received at least one medical service from July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023. Those patients had a median allowed amount for all medical services received of approximately $1,100.
  • In 2022, the three cancers with the largest total costs of services incurred by patients aged 18 to 49 with a cancer diagnosis (by median allowed amount) were cancers of the breast, respiratory and intrathoracic organs, and digestive organs. All three of these groups of cancers had a median allowed amount over $25,000 and an average allowed amount over $80,000.
  • There was an especially marked difference in median versus average4 allowed amounts for two types of cancers in patients aged 18 to 49: leukemias and lymphomas, indicating that some patients incurred substantially higher costs than the median amount. The median allowed amount for all leukemias was less than $9,000, while the average allowed amount was over $135,000. The median allowed amount for all lymphomas was almost $12,000, while the average allowed amount was over $95,000. Two factors that led to higher cancer treatment costs were the use of chemotherapy or immunotherapy and/or an inpatient facility stay.
  • The hepatitis B vaccine helps prevent liver cancer caused by hepatitis B infection.5 Among patients aged 18 to 49, the age group 18-29 had the highest hepatitis B vaccine utilization from 2016 to 2022, but the age group 40-49 had the highest in 2023. That year, 0.8 percent of patients in the age group 40-49 received the hepatitis B vaccine, compared to 0.6 percent of the age group 18-29.
  • In the age group 40-49, 25.8 percent of patients in 2016 received any kind of cancer screening. This rose to 35.4 percent in 2023, a 36.9 percent increase. This was the largest increase in the percentage receiving any kind of cancer screening among patients aged 18 to 49. Breast cancer screening in the 40-49 age group increased from 36.1 percent of patients in 2016 to 41.1 percent in 2023, a 13.9 percent rise, while colon cancer screening rose from 4.0 percent in 2016 to 12.4 percent in 2023, a rise of 206.8 percent.

For the complete white paper, click here.


1 Cancer vaccine utilization measures the number of patients who received a cancer-related vaccination in a given year out of the number of patients who received any medical services in that same year.
2 The median is the midpoint of the distribution of values below and above which there is an equal number of values.
3 An allowed amount is the total fee negotiated between an insurance plan and a provider for an in-network service, including both the portion to be paid by the plan member and the portion to be paid by the plan.
4 The average is the value computed by dividing the sum of all the values by the number of values.
5 “Cancer: Vaccines (Shots),” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, October 31, 2024, https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/prevention/vaccination.html.