The United States will see nearly 2 million new cancer diagnoses and more than 600,000 cancer deaths this year, according to estimates from the American Cancer Society (ACS) published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.
The ACS report also showed that cervical cancer incidence has declined in recent years, while prostate cancer incidence has increased. However, in general, trends in cancer incidence have been more favorable for men than for women.
ACS researchers estimated cancer incidence and deaths using data collected by central cancer registries and the National Center for Health Statistics.
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The researchers projected that 1,958,310 cancers will be diagnosed in 2023 — 1,010,310 in men and 948,000 in women. The researchers also projected 609,820 cancer deaths in 2023 — 322,080 in men and 287,740 in women.
Differences in Cancer Incidence by Sex
When looking at cancer incidence over time, the researchers found that trends were generally more favorable for men than for women.
For example, the incidence of liver cancer increased for women but declined or remained stable for men. During 2015-2019, the incidence of liver cancer declined by 2.6% per year for men younger than 50 years and was stable for older men. Among women, the incidence of liver cancer increased by nearly 2% per year in both age groups.
Also during 2015-2019, the incidence of melanoma increased by about 1% per year for women older than 50 years and remained stable in younger women. The incidence of melanoma declined by about 1% per year for men younger than 50 years and remained stable for older men.
The incidence of lung cancer decreased for both sexes during 2015-2019, but the decrease was greater for men — 1.1% annually for women and 2.6% annually for men.
Changes in Cervical and Prostate Cancer Incidence
The data showed a 65% overall decrease in cervical cancer incidence during 2012-2019 among women aged 20-24 years. The incidence of cervical cancer decreased by 3% per year during 1998-2012, then by 11.4% per year during 2012-2019.
“The large drop in cervical cancer incidence is extremely exciting because this is the first group of women to receive the HPV vaccine, and it probably foreshadows steep reductions in other HPV-associated cancers,” report author Rebecca Siegel, senior scientific director of surveillance research at the ACS, said in a statement.
On the other hand, the incidence of prostate cancer increased by 3% annually during 2014-2019, after 2 decades of declining incidence. This increase was driven by annual increases of about 4.5% for regional‐stage and distant‐stage diagnoses that began as early as 2011, according to Siegel and colleagues.
“We must address these shifts in prostate cancer, especially in the Black community, since the incidence of prostate cancer in Black men is 70% higher than in White men and prostate cancer mortality rates in Black men are approximately 2 to 4 times higher than those in every other racial and ethnic group,” William Dahut, MD, chief scientific officer at the ACS, said in a statement.
Trends in Survival
The ACS report also showed that cancer survival rates are generally improving over time. For all cancers combined, the 5-year relative survival rate increased from 49% for diagnoses made in the mid‐1970s to 68% for diagnoses made during 2012-2018.
For the 2012-2018 period, 5-year survival rates were highest for thyroid cancer (98%), prostate cancer (97%), testicular cancer (95%), and melanoma (94%). Five-year survival rates were lowest for pancreatic cancer (12%), liver cancer (21%), and esophageal cancer (21%).
The data also showed that cancer deaths declined by 1.5% from 2019 to 2020.
References
Siegel RL, Miller KD, Wagle NS, Jemal A. Cancer statistics, 2023. CA Cancer J Clin. 2022;1‐32. doi:10.3322/caac.21763
American Cancer Society releases latest cancer statistics, launches initiative to address prostate cancer resurgence and disparities. EurekAlert. News release. Published January 12, 2023.
