Each year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Central Cancer Registry Association of North America (NAACCR), the American Cancer Society (ACS), and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) jointly publish the National Cancer Data Annual Report, which provides data updates on cancer incidence and mortality rates in the United States.
On January 12, 2022, the American Cancer Society released its latest Cancer Statistics Report 2022 as scheduled: The risk of dying from cancer in the United States has decreased over the past 28 years. Cancer mortality in both men and women fell by 32% from 1991 to 2019, once again setting a new record.
Cancer mortality continues to decline!
The downward trend in mortality (cancer mortality) is the gold standard for evidence of advances in cancer control.
Between 1991 and 2019, cancer mortality fell by 32%, meaning that cancer deaths fell by nearly 3.5 million. It is worth mentioning that from 2015 to 2019, the risk of cancer death decreased by about 2% per year, compared with a 1% decrease per year in the 1990s. The accelerated decline in cancer mortality shows the power of prevention, screening, early diagnosis, treatment, and the overall potential to move closer to a cancer-free world.
Among them, the most obvious decline in mortality is lung cancer, in addition to breast and prostate cancer.
Much of this success is due to a decrease in the number of smokers, which leads to a reduction in lung cancer and other smoking-related cancers. In addition to this, other factors contributing to the reduction in mortality include:
- Postoperative chemotherapy for breast and colon cancer
- Combination therapy for a variety of cancers
- Prevention and/or early detection is achieved by screening for certain cancers, including breast, cervical, colon, prostate, rectal, and most recently lung cancers
The researchers note that increasing success rates in reducing cancer mortality will require more investment at the national, state, and local levels in two equally important areas:
- Expand knowledge and advance cancer research on treatment options
- Ensure successful, targeted cancer control interventions are more broadly and equitably applicable to all populations.
This is also the experience that our country needs to refer to and learn from.
Latest Cancer Incidence and Mortality Rates 2022!
According to the latest statistics, in 2022, the United States is expected to have 1,918,030 new cancer cases and 609,360 cancer deaths.
The chart below counts the most common types of cancer in men and women in 2022. Prostate, lung and bronchial cancer (hereinafter referred to as lung cancer) and colorectal cancer (CRC) account for almost half (48%) of male cases, of which prostate cancer alone accounts for 27% of diagnosis. For women, breast, lung and colorectal cancers account for 51% of all new diagnoses, and breast cancer alone accounts for nearly a third.
Cancer mortality in the United States continues to decline, and these points are worth learning
01
The secret to a decline in lung cancer mortality
The continued decline in lung cancer mortality is worth learning from all countries. This is mainly due to the fact that in recent years, more and more lung cancer patients have been diagnosed when the cancer is in its early stages, so they live longer. In addition, the improvement in survival rate is also largely due to the following improvements:
- Screening diagnosis of early lung cancer
- Thoracoscopic surgery (VATS)
- Pathological staging is renewed
- There is a growing number of drugs targeting the most common genetic mutations in lung cancer
In addition, the United States' measures to strictly control tobacco are also very worthy of reference.
Lung cancer still kills more than 350 people a day, the highest number of deaths of any type of cancer – more than breast, prostate and pancreatic cancers combined.
It is worth being alarmed that about 8 out of 10 people expected to die of lung cancer in 2022 (81%) are caused by smoking. Both the amount of smoking and the amount of time spent increase the risk of dying from lung cancer. People who smoke are 25 times more likely to develop lung cancer than non-smokers!
- Secondhand smoke causes nearly 3% of new lung cancer diagnoses and is expected to cause about 3% of deaths by 2022.
- After smoking, one of the main causes of lung cancer is exposure to radon, which is released from the soil and can accumulate indoors.
- If they are classified separately, non-smoking-related lung cancer deaths will become the 8th leading cause of cancer death.
The tobacco control campaign in the United States began in the 1960s, the number of smokers has continued to decrease for 40 years, and the total smoking ban in public has followed the strict legal restrictions on the time and place of smoking, from 1990 to the present, the adult smoking rate has dropped from 42.4% to 16.8%, and the number of men who died of lung cancer has decreased by 45% and the number of women has decreased by 19%.
The decline in smoking directly reduces the incidence and mortality of tobacco-related cancers, including lung, laryngeal and bladder cancers, as well as overall morbidity and mortality.
02
Cancer screening
The improvement and promotion of cancer early screening technology allows more cancer patients to give timely intervention and treatment in early detection, and improve the overall five-year survival rate.
1. The 5-year survival rate of prostate cancer --- is about 99%!
2. The 5-year survival rate of thyroid cancer ---- is about 98%! (depending on the type of organization)
3. The 5-year survival rate of testicular cancer --- is about 95.1%!
4. The 5-year survival rate of melanoma --- is about 91.7%!
5. Early breast cancer ---- early (stage 0 and stage 1) 5-year survival rate: 99%-100%!
1. 15 years in advance of physical examination
People with a family history of tumor genetics, in addition to the general physical examination, must go to the cancer specialty hospital or department for anti-cancer physical examination when the cancer age of the immediate family is 15 to 20 years earlier. For example, if an immediate family member is diagnosed with cancer at the age of 55, you should start a cancer prevention examination when you are 35 to 40 years old.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) testing can detect cervical cancer early.
In many high-income countries, mammography reduces breast cancer mortality.
Fecal occult blood test screening reduces the mortality rate of colorectal cancer in clinical trials.
Low-dose spiral CT scans can reduce lung cancer mortality and reduce mortality.
2, over 40 years old should pay attention to
People over the age of 40 have a significantly increased risk of cancer and need to pay more attention to regular screening for cancer.
03
Innovative therapies lead the world
Americans have access to more innovative drugs than any other country, and therefore gain significant benefits in terms of overall survival. Especially for some rarer tumors with poor prognosis, basic research and the scientific research strength of related hospitals have a great impact on the survival chances of patients.
According to statistics: the average five-year survival rate of cancer in the United States is 66%, and in China it is 30.9%. And medicine is the root of cancer patients' "life extension".
Statistics in 2015 show that the number of new drugs under development in the United States accounts for about 48.7% of the world, and almost half of the world's new drugs are in the United States; the United Kingdom and Japan, which rank second and third, account for only 8.0% and 7.0%; China is only 4.1%, a difference of 44.6 percentage points in the United States.
The advantage of crushing makes the United States lead the world in terms of number and frontier of new drugs and new therapies. According to the latest cancer progress report for 2021, from August 1, 2020 to July 31, 2021, the FDA has approved 16 new anti-cancer therapies, while the FDA has also expanded the use of 11 previously approved anti-cancer therapies to treat other cancer types, bringing new treatment options and hopes to more patients.
(Note: Click to view a larger image.) Original link: Just now! The latest Cancer Progress Report of the American Association for Cancer Research 2021 is out! ）
Newly approved anti-cancer therapies by the FDA: August 1, 2020 – July 31, 2021
Take big strides to make the future of healthcare better!
Although we understand the advantages of cancer treatment in the United States, cancer is a very complex disease after all, and there is no miracle medicine in the United States. Especially advanced patients, sometimes blindly go to the United States for medical treatment in order to grasp the last straw, but many will run in vain and return disappointed. In fact, the biggest advantage of the United States is that new drugs are listed quickly and there are many clinical trials, so for patients who cannot be bought in China, or patients with rare cancers, the opportunities are greater, and the United States has better medical services, good experience, and better care and high-quality services for patients. But many standard treatment methods, the gap between the top three hospitals in the north, Shanghai and Guangzhou and the United States is not large. In China, if you find an expert, through acquaintances or scalpers, sometimes you can see it relatively quickly, even if the quality is not satisfactory, but it can be satisfied in time. In the United States, it is necessary to make reservations, queues, and wait, and for some people, it is not as good as China. ”
Especially in the past two years, our country has introduced a market-oriented reform plan for various anti-cancer life-saving drugs, and we can also feel that since the reform of the drug review and approval system, the speed of domestic new drugs on the market has been greatly improved. Being a patient in China is blissful!
Disease knows no borders, and the fight against cancer is not only a country and a place, but the mission of the entire human race!