Baby Boomer Cancer Risk
The onset of the "swinging 60s" looks to have heralded a rise in sexually-transmitted cancers, according to the latest research published in the British Journal of Cancer researchers.
Incedents of anal, vulval and vaginal cancers rose for the so called baby boomers generation, or those born in the decades after the Second World War.
The cause is the human papillomavirus (HPV), acquired during sex, says the reasearch carried out by the King's College London.
The British Journal of Cancer report says changes in sexual habits may be the cause that led to up to three out of four people potentialy being infected. .
HPV has been implicated in a range of cancers, including cervical, anal, vulval, vaginal and penile - although the diseases can be caused by other factors too.
Estimates suggest that three out of four people will be infected with HPV at some point in their lives, although the immune system usually deals with the infection, but if an infection is persistent, it can lead to cells turning cancerous.
The King's College London study, using figures from a cancer database, suggests that rates of some of these cancers rose quickly for the generations born in the 1950s and 1960s.
There has been a steady rise in anal cancer rates over that period in both men and women, but with women born in the 1960s three times more likely to develop it than those born 20 years earlier.
Although vaginal and vulval cancer rates have fallen away in modern generations, but they were higher in the 1960s generation of women compared with those born in the first half of the 1940s.
Cervical cancer is the most common cancer linked to HPV and rates of the disease stayed steady during the period studied, a fact credited mainly to the cervical screening programme.
The risk to future generations from the disease is predicted to fall further after the introduction of a vaccine to some types of HPV.
The researchers said they believed that both changes in sexual practices, and a greater exposure to HPV were the likely cause for those increased rates.
Separate studies have suggested a rise in female anal intercourse during the 1960s generation.
Dr David Robinson, who led the study, reported these results have revealed a snapshot of just how much rates of these cancers have increased in the post war generations.
Anal cancer, rates are now higher in women than in men - however, programmes of vaccination against HPV, whilst aimed primarily at reducing the burden of cervical cancer, may also help to reduce the incidence of cancers at these other sites."
Cancer Research UK, said that it was important people understood the dangers linked to HPV.
Using a condom will lower the risk of exposure to the virus. HPV vaccines are an important advance for future generations, but the cervical screening programme remains vitally important in detecting any changes that might lead to cancer.