Cancer deaths decline in US, but rates among women and young adults are rising: Report

Overall deaths from cancer are reducing in the United States, however cancer mortality is climbing up in women, especially younger ones, while cancer diagnoses have also shot up among young people, according to a new report from the

American Cancer Society

.
The report highlights the troubling trend, with middle-aged women now facing a higher cancer risk than men in the same age group, and young women nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed as their male counterparts, driven largely by breast and thyroid cancers.

The cancer mortality rate has fallen by 34% from 1991 to 2022, which has led to around 4.5 million fewer deaths over the two decades. This has been attributed to less smoking, better treatment, and earlier cancer detection. However, this gain can soon turn into loss as incidence rates for many cancer types are climbing, especially among women and younger adults.

Cancer threat rising for women

Cancer rates among women aged 50 to 64 have now surpassed those of men in the same age group. Among women under 50, rates are 82% higher than in men, a sharp increase from 51% in 2002. Notably, lung cancer is now more common in women than men under 65, highlighting a shift in what is typically seen as a disease of aging.

Colorectal, cervical cancer increase

While some kinds of cancer are in decline, others are on rise. Colorectal cancer cases in people under 45 in recent years have been alarming. But it’s not the only cancer rising in young. New cervical cancer diagnoses are also on rise in women under 45. Death rates are increasing in both men and women for cancers of the oral cavity and pancreas. Also, women are dying more of uterine corpus or endometrial cancers and liver cancers.

Cancers rising among men and women

Pancreatic cancer incidence and death are increasing. The five-year survival rate remains 8% for the 9 out of 10 people diagnosed with pancreatic exocrine tumors. The reasons could range from better detection, rising obesity to lack of effective therapies. Breast cancer, liver cancer, and melanoma in women, prostate in men, and HPV-related oral cancers for men and women are also on rise.

Cancer in kids on decline, adolescents on rise

Childhood cancer incidence is on the decline for kids under 14, however, it is still on the rise among adolescents 15 to 19 years old. Mortality rates have fallen by 70% in children and by 63% in adolescents since 1970, mainly because of improvement in treatment for leukemia.
The report further predicts 2,041,910 new cancer diagnoses in the US or about 5,600 new cases each day and 618,120 cancer deaths.
(Picture courtesy: iStock)