The CDC's "Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer" reveals that breast and prostate cancer incidence rates are rising across every racial and ethnic group in the United States. Breast cancer rose 1.1% per year and prostate cancer rose 2.9% per year between 2018 and 2022. Conversely, overall cancer mortality continues to decline, driven by a sharp drop in lung cancer deaths. Lung cancer death rates fell 52% among men and 37% among women between 2004 and 2023, aided by a drop in adult smoking prevalence to 9.9% by 2024.
Breast cancer trends
- ▪Breast cancer incidence in the United States rose by 1.1% per year between 2018 and 2022, increasing among women of every race and ethnicity.
- ▪Breast cancer was the most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer death among adolescents and young adults ages 15 to 39 in the United States from 2019 to 2023.
Prostate cancer trends
- ▪Breast cancer incidence in the United States rose by 1.1% per year between 2018 and 2022, increasing among women of every race and ethnicity.
- ▪Prostate cancer death rates in the United States declined by 0.4% per year overall but stopped declining among Asian and Pacific Islander, Black, and white men.
Declines in lung cancer mortality
- ▪Lung cancer accounted for 21% of all cancer deaths in the United States in 2023, representing a decline from 29% of all cancer deaths in 2004.
- ▪The five-year relative survival rate for lung cancer in the United States doubled from 15.1% to 30.1% between 2000 and 2018.
- ▪Lung cancer death rates in the United States fell by 52% among men and 37% among women between 2004 and 2023, driving down overall cancer mortality.
Early detection and smoking declines
- ▪The share of lung cancer cases diagnosed at an early, localized stage rose from 16% to 27% among men and from 19% to 33% among women between 2003 and 2022.
- ▪Adult cigarette smoking prevalence in the United States fell from 22.6% in 2001 to 9.9% in 2024.
Debatable claims
- ▪Tobacco control is the primary driver of the decline in U.S. lung cancer deaths
- ▪Governments should override pharmaceutical patents to lower the cost of cancer treatments
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