Each year the American Cancer Society publishes predictions about cancer for that year based on recent trends. For 2023, their predictions in Cancer Statistics was provided in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians on January 12, 2023.
The good news is that overall deaths have decreased by 33% since 1991. This represents 3.8 million lives saved. However, cancer remains a major cause of death, and the ACS estimates almost 2 million new cancer diagnoses will be made this year. Of those, 609,820 are expected to die from their cancer.
Lung and colorectal cancers account for most cancer deaths. Lung cancer has decreased by 2.6% in men and 1.1% in women. Prostate cancer is increasing, and, unfortunately is often found in late stages.
There is really good news about cervical cancer in young women (in their 20’s); the rate has decreased by 65%, probably due to the HPV vaccine given in childhood. HPV is a virus that predisposes women to get cervical cancer. Reducing the infection rate, reduces the cancer rate.
Older women have been experiencing higher rates of breast and uterine cancer, liver cancer, and melanomas. Men have not experienced an increase in liver cancer and melanoma.
More good news. As a result of newer treatments, deaths have gone down in leukemia, melanomas, and kidney cancer.
The American Cancer Society summarizes their conclusions, “… although cancer mortality rates continue to decline, future progress may be attenuated by rising incidence for breast, prostate, and uterine corpus cancers …”
Peter M. Hartmann, MD
Family Medicine & Psychiatry
