American Cancer Society (ACS) Reports 4 Screenable Cancers are on the Rise
Article shared from Iowa Cancer Consortium:
The American Cancer Society (ACS) released its new annual report, Cancer Statistics, 2024 (view the consumer-friendly companion, Cancer Facts & Figures 2024).
“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 adults.” -Rebecca Siegel, ACS Senior Scientific Director, Surveillance Research
Four "screenable" cancers are on the rise in certain populations - breast, prostate, colorectal, and cervical cancers. Learn more about cancer screening and early detection.
For the report, ACS researchers compiled the most recent data on population-based cancer occurrence and outcomes using incidence data collected by central cancer registries, through 2020, and mortality data collected by the National Center for Health Statistics, through 2021.
Key Findings:
Overall cancer mortality has continued to decline, resulting in more than 4 million fewer deaths in the US since 1991.
However, this progress is being jeopardized by increasing incidence for 6 of the top 10 cancers as the projected number of new diagnoses tops 2 million for the first time.
Rising colorectal cancer incidence has rapidly shifted mortality patterns in adults under 50 years of age; colorectal cancer has moved up from being the fourth leading cause of cancer death in both younger men and women two decades ago to first in men and second in women.
Cervical cancer incidence rates are decreasing steeply in women in their 20s, who were first to receive the HPV vaccine, but are increased in women 30-44 years old by 1.7% per year from 2012 through 2019, highlighting the need for more emphasis on screening in young women, as well as broader uptake of the vaccine.
Mortality rates continue to increase by 2% per year for endometrial cancer, one of the few cancers with increasing mortality. Steeper increases in women of color are widening racial disparities, with the death rate now two times higher in Black women (9.1 per 100,000) than in White women (4.6 per 100,000).
Cancer patients are getting younger: the proportion of diagnoses in people who are middle-aged (50-64 years) increased from 25% in 1995 to 30% in 2019-2020, whereas the proportion 65 years and older decreased from 61% to 58%, despite both age groups growing in the general population.
LGBTQ+ individuals are vulnerable to cancer disparities due to higher prevalence of cancer risk factors, such as smoking, likely in part because of stress caused by systemic discrimination. Insufficient access to high-quality care, limited provider knowledge of LGBTQ+ patient needs, discrimination in the health care setting, and a lack of population-based cancer occurrence data are all barriers to health equity that need to be addressed.