A fourteen -year study reveals atypical groupings of cancers of the child and young adult in Charente. Scientists point to excess cases in three areas, but remain unable to designate a single cause.
Confirmed atypical groupings in three areas of the department
Since 2008, Charentaise families have alerted to unusual cases of cancer among young people. At the end of September 2025, Public Health France confirmed the existence of atypical groupings in the department, after the analysis of 322 cases of cancers diagnosed between 2008 and 2022 in patients under 24 years of age. This figure is greater than the 290 cases expected on the regional average.
As the health agency said, “We have not identified a cluster but atypical spatio-temporal groups“. Concretely, this means that cases do not form a single home, but that they are concentrated in specific areas, beyond what chance could explain.
The researchers identified three particularly affected areas:
- West of Angoulême, with 65 cases observed against 40 expected, marked by a strong presence of thyroid cancers in young adults;
- Around Chabanese, to the northeast, with 12 cases against 4 expected, where lymphomas and testicular cancers appear in excess;
- South of Cognac, with 6 cases against 0.6 expected, concentrated mainly in children.
In Lemonde, Jean-Pierre Dupuychaffray, doctor and head of the departmental league against cancer, said: “Now, in Charente, we observe a surrisque of these diseases of the order of 10 %, (…), it seemed to us that we had to launch a similar study on this department“.
No cause identified, but environmental avenues mentioned
Despite these figures, scientists remain cautious. Today there is no scientific certainty on the origin of these groupings. The study therefore does not confirm causation, but several hypotheses are on the table.
In the case of the south of Cognac, wine area, Jean-Pierre Dupuychaffray recalls in Lemonde: “The regrouping of the south of Cognac, in the wine area, is mainly made up of children, which could be consistent with an exposure to pesticides, but in this case, we would expect leukemia or tumors of the central nervous system, but this is not what we observe“..
François Dabis, epidemiologist, believes for his part that “These results should encourage to continue research, as they do not allow to rule out a link with environmental exhibitions“. These exhibitions could be multiple and diffuse, making the identification of an extremely complex unique cause. One of the study authors, Thomas Sytchenko, also stresses:” The conventional methods we use can find their interpretation limits in the event of low enrollment “.
Faced with these uncertainties, Francelyne Marano, biologist and vice-president of the League against Cancer, calls for not releasing the scientific effort: “We cannot stop at the observation of these supercotians, even in the absence of statistical certainties, and we must continue the investigations“.
In the pages of the Parisian, Jean-Pierre Dupuychaffray, president of the Charentais committee of the League, now urges local communities to take charge of the situation. He encourages them to commit to “reduce avoidable risk factors”.