The findings of the study were presented by researchers from the Washington University in St. Louis’s medical school at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting earlier this month. 

“Accumulating evidence suggests that the younger generations may be aging more swiftly than anticipated, likely due to earlier exposure to various risk factors and environmental insults. However, the impact of accelerated aging on early-onset cancer development remains unclear,” said Ruiyi Tian, one of the authors of the study. 

They came to this conclusion by looking at the data of nearly 150,000 people stored in the U.K. Biobank. While life expectancy has risen, experts have noted that “healthspan,” the period in which people can lead healthy independent lives without pain or disability, has not followed this trend. 

No specific causes were cited as causing accelerated aging, but experts in the field have a few potential contenders. James Kirkland, Noaber Foundation professor of aging research at the Mayo Clinic, pointed to air travel, more radiation exposure and PFAS — forever chemicals — as potential causes, though it’s still too soon to make any conclusions. 

Factors like illness or environmental influences can cause people to develop more senescent cells, which stop dividing but don’t die. These cells secrete inflammatory molecules and increase with age. 

Preclinical models have found that introducing senescent cells into organisms accelerates the development of cancers. What could be causing this in younger generations is what researchers like Kirkland hope to find out. 

“Globally, it seems fundamental aging processes [are] appearing in younger and younger people despite decreases in smoking worldwide and despite taking into account things like obesity, which we know accelerate fundamental aging processes, so is there something in the environment that we don’t know yet that could be driving this?” Kirkland said.