The Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer

This year’s Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer provides an update of cancer incidence (new cases) and mortality (death) rates and trends in the United States, and this year, the status is once again improving.  But as the Special Feature of the report points out, there’s a worrisome trend on the horizon. Obesity and lack of physical activity are poised to become the top cause of preventable cancer deaths in this country.

The report is put together by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Cancer Society, the National Cancer Institute, and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries. This year’s report finds for all cancers combined, incidence rates among men dropped  0.6 percent per year from 2004 through 2008. Among women, cancer incidence rates declined 0.5 percent per year from 1998 to 2006, with rates leveling off from 2006 to 2008.

For men, incidence rates for five of the 17 most common cancers – prostate, lung and bronchus, colorectal, stomach, and larynx – decreased between 1999 through 2008. In contrast, rates among men increased from 1999 through 2008 for seven cancers: kidney and renal pelvis, pancreas, liver, thyroid, melanoma, leukemia, and myeloma.

Among women, incidence rates decreased from 1999 through 2008 for six of the 18 most common cancers: lung, colorectal, bladder, cervix, oral cavity and pharynx, and stomach. Incidence rates among women increased from 1999 through 2008 for six cancers: thyroid, melanoma, kidney and renal pelvis, pancreas, leukemia, and liver.

Mortality rates, as published in our Cancer Statistics report earlier this year, continue to drop, as they have since the early 1990s. These rates declined an average of 1.6 percent per year in the latest time period (between 2004 and 2008). Death rates are the best indicator of progress against cancer.