Cancer deaths decline overall, but colorectal cancer mortality spike 'has to be addressed'
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Key takeaways :
- Cancer prevention, detection and treatment helped save more than 4 million lives since 1991.
- Colorectal cancer now the second-leading cause of cancer deaths.
Cancer mortality in the U.S. is projected to decline again in 2024, but the number of new diagnoses should top 2 million for the first time, an annual report from the American Cancer Society revealed.
Reduction in smoking and improved cancer detection and treatment have saved more than 4 million lives since 1991, the report in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians stated. However, troubling trends exist, according to researchers.
Colorectal cancer rose from No. 4 in cancer deaths in the late 1990s for both sexes under the age of 50 years to No. 1 in men and No. 2 in women, behind breast cancer.
“That has to be to be addressed,” Ahmedin Jemal, DVM, PhD, senior vice president of surveillance and health equity science at American Cancer Society, told Healio.
Additionally, incidence rates for six of the top 10 cancers in the U.S. rose annually between 2015 and 2019. Prostate, liver (women), kidney, melanoma and HPV-associated oral cancers went up 2% to 3% each year, cervical (individuals aged 30-44 years) and colorectal cancers (individuals less 55 years) rose 1% to 2%, and breast, pancreatic and uterine corpus cancers increased 0.6% to 1%.
The ACS report projected 2,001,140 new cancer diagnoses in 2024 and 611,720 deaths.
It estimates breast cancer (313,510), prostate cancer (299,010), and lung and bronchial cancers (234,580) to have the highest number of new cases, and lung and bronchial cancers (125,070), colorectal (53,010) and pancreatic cancer (51,750) to produce the most deaths.
Individuals with cancer live longer today, as 5-year survival rates increased from 49% in the mid-1970s to 69% from 2013 to 2019.
A troubling trend
Lung cancer caused 2.5 times more deaths in young adult men than colorectal cancer in 1998, but colorectal cancer now produces nearly twice the number of deaths as lung cancer, according to the report.
Colorectal cancer mortality jumped lung cancer in women, too, over the same time frame.
“We increased the screening for age 45 to 49 because the screening rate is very, very low in this age group,” Jemal said. “Only 20% of individuals receive colorectal cancer screening.”
Jemal added that increased awareness for individuals with a family history of colorectal cancer or genetic predisposition is imperative.
Racial disparities in cancer mortality
The researchers also observed concerning racial-based disparities in cancer mortality rates.
Black individuals with prostate, stomach or uterine corpus cancers are at least twice as likely to die as white individuals with the same diseases, according to the report.
The mortality rate of Black women with breast cancer is 41% higher than white women despite a 4% lower incidence rate.
American Indian and Alaska Native individuals with liver, stomach and kidney cancers are at least twice as likely to die as white individuals with the same diseases.
“Some of these cancers are pretty preventable,” Jemal said. “We need to expand access to care to all populations so that everyone has a chance to prevent and detect cancer, at least, and receive high-quality treatment.”
Other key statistics
Incidence of invasive cervical cancer for women aged 20 to 24 years decreased 65% from 2012 to 2019 compared with 24% from 2005 to 2012, thanks to the HPV vaccine. However, women aged 30 to 44 years had a 1.7% annual increase in invasive cervical cancer incidence.
Vaccination frequency varies by location. Boys and girls aged 13 to 17 years had a 79% rate in the District of Columbia, 75% in Massachusetts and South Dakota, and 33% in Mississippi.
Cancer diagnoses increased by 5% in individuals aged 50 to 64 years from 1995 to 2020 but decreased by 3% in individuals 65 years and older.
Children (aged 1-14 years) had a 1% annual decrease in invasive cancer incidence from 2015 to 2019 after rising since 1975. Malignant brain tumors and lymphomas declined, and leukemia incidence leveled off.
Thyroid cancer rates went up more than 4% annually in adolescents (aged 15-19 years), and leukemia and lymphoma increased as well, leading to a 1% annual growth in adolescent cancer between 2015 and 2019.
Cancer deaths decreased in both children and adolescents from 1970 to 2021 (70% in children; 63% in adolescents).
A final word
“We need to understand the reasons behind the increase in incidence rates in young adults because it is very important,” Jemal said. “They represent maybe less than 20% of cancer cases currently, but as they are getting older and carry their risk to older age, they maybe halt progress that we have made in reducing cancer mortality in the past 40, 50 years. We need really to pay attention.”
For more information:
Ahmedin Jemal, DVM, PhD, can be reached at ahmedin.jemal@cancer.org.
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