On Jan. 17, the American Cancer Society (ACS) released Cancer Statistics, 2024, the organization’s annual report on cancer facts and trends. According to a press release, the new data show overall cancer mortality has continued to decline there have been over 4 million fewer deaths in the U.S. since 1991. Yet, there is increasing incidence for six of the top 10 cancers as the projected number of diagnoses now tops 2 million (2,001,140). This is the first time the projected number of diagnoses has been this high. The findings are published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, alongside its consumer-facing publication, Cancer Facts & Figures 2024, available on cancer.org.
ACS researchers, according to the press release, 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).
The press release states that “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. Breast cancer leads in women under 50 with 2,251 deaths in 2021.”
Other key details from the report include:
- Cervical cancer incidence rates are decreasing 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.
- After decades of increase, cancer incidence in children has leveled off, although rates continue to increase among adolescents (ages 15-19 years), including a greater than 4% per year rise in thyroid cancer.
- Mortality rates continue to increase by 2% per year for uterine corpus (endometrial) cancer, one of the few cancers with increasing mortality.
- 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 (from 13% to 19% for ages 50-64 years and from 13% to 17% for ages 65 and older).
- As well as changes in the population age distribution, this shift shows steep decreases in incidence of prostate cancer and smoking-related cancers in older adults, in addition to increased cancer incidence in people born after the 1950s due to higher obesity and other unknown factors.
Rebecca Siegel, senior scientific director, surveillance research at the American Cancer Society and lead author of the report was quoted in the press release. She said, “We’re encouraged by the steady drop in cancer mortality as a result of less smoking, earlier detection for some cancers, and improved treatment. But 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.”
ACS has the press release.
