Reductions in cancer mortality being threatened by increasing incidence for six of top 10 cancers
Cancer mortality is decreasing, but progress is being hampered by increasing incidence of some cancers, according to a study published online Jan. 17 in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.
Rebecca L. Siegel, M.P.H., from the American Cancer Society in Atlanta, and colleagues used incidence data collected by central cancer registries and mortality data collected by the National Center for Health Statistics to update population-based cancer occurrence and outcomes.
The authors note that 2,001,140 new cancer cases and 611,720 cancer deaths are projected to occur in the United States in 2024. Declines in cancer mortality continued through 2021, with more than 4 million deaths averted since 1991 due to reductions in smoking, earlier detection for some cancers, and improved treatment options. These improvements are threatened by increasing incidence for six of the top 10 cancers, with increases in incidence rates for breast, pancreas, and uterine corpus cancers (0.6 to 1 percent annually) and prostate, liver (female), kidney, and human papillomavirus-associated oral cancers and melanoma (2 to 3 percent annually) during 2015 to 2019. In men and women younger than 50 years, colorectal cancer was the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the late 1990s, but it is now first and second in men and women, respectively. Wide persistent cancer disparities are also hampering progress.
“As a nation, we’ve dropped the ball on cancer prevention as incidence continues to increase for many common cancers — like breast, prostate, and endometrial, as well as colorectal and cervical cancers in some young,” Siegel said in a statement.
