More Americans are surviving cancer, but the disease more frequently affects young, middle-aged adults and women The American Cancer Society reported Thursday.
Despite the overall improvement in survival, black and indigenous Americans are dying from some cancers at rates two to three times higher than those among white Americans.
These trends represent a marked change in a disease that has long been considered a disease of aging, and which affected far more men than women.
These shifts reflect a decline in smoking-related and prostate cancer rates among older men and a worrying rise in cancer rates in people born since the 1950s.
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, but it is the leading cause among Americans younger than 85 years. The new report predicts that there will be about 2,041,910 new cases this year, and that 618,120 Americans will die from the disease.
Six of the 10 most common cancers are on the rise, including breast and uterine cancer. Cases of colorectal cancer are also increasing among people under the age of 65, as are prostate cancer, melanoma and pancreatic cancer.
Rebecca L said. “These unfavorable trends are skewed toward women,” said Siegel, an epidemiologist at the American Cancer Society and first author of the report.
“Of all the cancers that are increasing, some are increasing in men, but it is unbalanced – more of that increase is occurring in women.”
Women are also diagnosed at younger ages. Cancer rates are high among women under the age of fifty (so-called early cancer), as well as among women between the ages of 50 to 64 years.
Despite increases in some early cancers, such as colorectal and testicular cancer, “overall rates are flat in men under 50 and declining in those aged 50 to 64,” Ms. Siegel said.
The report presents several other worrying trends. The first is an increase in new cases of cervical cancer — a disease widely viewed as preventable in the United States — among women ages 30 to 44.
Cervical cancer rates have declined since the mid-1970s, when Pap smear screening for precancerous changes became widely available. But recent surveys have found that many women are postponing their visits to gynecologists.
A Harris Poll survey of more than 1,100 American women conducted last year for BD, a medical technology company, found that 72 percent said they had postponed a visit to their doctor that would have included an exam; Half of them said they did not know how often they should undergo cervical cancer screening.
(The current recommendation, not yet official, A bit complicated. Get a Pap smear every three years from ages 21 to 29. Then, from ages 30 to 65, continue having a Pap smear every three years; Or get a Pap smear in addition to testing for human papillomavirus, which can cause cervical cancer, every five years; Alternatively, get tested for the virus every five years.)
Another worrying trend began in 2021, when lung cancer cases in women under 65, for the first time, surpassed those in men: 15.7 cases per 100,000 women under 65, compared with 15.4 per 100,000 in men.
The incidence of lung cancer has declined over the past decade, but it has declined more rapidly in men. Women started smoking later than men and took longer to quit.
There was also a slight increase in smoking in people born after 1965, the year after the Surgeon General first warned that cigarettes cause cancer.
Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. The American Cancer Society said cancer will kill nearly 500 people every day in 2025, most of them from lung cancer.
“There is growing concern that e-cigarettes may contribute to this burden in the future, given their potential to cause cancer and their widespread popularity,” the report said.
Breast cancer rates have also been rising for many years, increasing by about 1 percent per year between 2012 and 2021. The largest rise was seen in women under 50, and there were sharp increases among Hispanics, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders. slim.
These increases are due to the detection of localized tumors and some types of cancer that are fueled by hormones.
Some of the rise results from changing fertility patterns. Childbearing and breastfeeding protect against breast cancer, but more American women are delaying childbirth — or choosing not to have children at all.
Other risk factors include genetics, family history, and heavy drinking, a habit that has increased in women under 50. For older women, excess body weight may play a role in cancer risk.
The American Cancer Society said that uterine cancer is the only cancer whose survival rate has actually decreased over the past forty years.
Death rates from liver cancer among women and oral cancer among both sexes are also high.
The incidence of pancreatic cancer among men and women has been increasing for decades. It is now the third leading cause of cancer death. As with many other types of cancer, obesity is thought to contribute to it.
Little progress has been made in understanding and treating pancreatic cancer. Death rates have been rising since record keeping began, rising to 13 per 100,000 in men and 10 per 100,000 in women today, up from about five per 100,000 in men and women in the 1930s.
The lack of progress has frustrated many scientists and doctors. The cancer is often at a fairly advanced stage when diagnosed, and the five-year survival rate is only 13 percent.
“We need to make progress in understanding what causes pancreatic cancers to grow, what treatment will prevent these cancers, what can prevent them in the first place, and how we can screen them early,” said Dr. Amy Abernethy. He is an oncologist who co-founded Highlander Health, which focuses on accelerating clinical research.
Some experts are beginning to acknowledge that environmental exposures may contribute to early-stage cancer, in addition to the usual suspects: lifestyle, genetics, and family history.
Neil Iyengar, an oncologist at Memorial Sloan, said: “I think the rise in the number of cancers not just in one condition, but in a variety of cancers in young people, particularly in young women, suggests that there is something broader going on than differences in individual genetics or Population genetics. Kettering Cancer Center.
“It strongly suggests the possibility that environmental exposures and our lifestyles in the United States contribute to the onset of cancer in young people.”
He noted that public health efforts aimed at reducing risky lifestyle behaviors have focused on those most at risk and on older Americans, who continue to bear the brunt of the cancer burden.
But risk factors in young people may be different.
Emerging research suggests that maintaining regular sleep patterns, for example, may also help prevent cancer, he said.
Ms. Siegel said lifestyle and behavioral changes can reduce the risk of many types of cancer.
“I don’t think people realize how much control they have over their cancer risk,” she said. “There is a lot we can all do. Quitting smoking is the most important.”
Among other things: maintaining a healthy body weight; Do not drink alcohol or drink it in moderation; Eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, and low in red and processed meat; Physical activity and regular cancer screenings.
“There are all these things you can do, but they are individual choices, so just pick one that you can focus on,” she said. “Small changes can make a difference.”