More Americans are surviving cancer, but the disease is affecting young and middle-aged adults and women more frequently. The American Cancer Society reported. on Thursday.
And despite overall improvements in survival, blacks and Native Americans are dying from some cancers at rates two to three times higher than white Americans.
These trends represent a marked change for a disease that has long been considered a disease of old age, and which used to affect men more than women.
These changes reflect a decline in smoking-related cancers and prostate cancer among older men and a disturbing increase in cancers among people born since the 1950s.
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, but the leading cause of death among Americans under 85 years of age. About 2,041,910 new cases and 618,120 Americans will die from the disease this year, according to the new report.
Six of the 10 most common cancers are growing, including Breast cancer And The uterus. are also on the rise. Colorectal cancer in people Under age 65 as well as prostate cancer, melanoma and pancreatic cancer.
“These unfavorable trends point toward women,” said Rebecca L. Siegel, an epidemiologist at the American Cancer Society and first author of the report.
“Of all the cancers that are increasing, some of them are increasing in men, but it’s lopsided – more of it is increasing in women.”
Women are also being diagnosed at a younger age. Cancer rates are increasing among women under 50 (so-called early-onset cancer) as well as among women aged 50 to 64.
Despite increases in some early-onset cancers, such as colorectal cancer and testicular cancer, “overall rates are flat among men younger than 50 and declining among men 50 to 64,” Ms. Siegel said. ” said Ms. Siegel.
The report outlines several other disturbing trends. One is the rise in new cases of cervical cancer — a largely preventable disease in the U.S. — among women ages 30 to 44.
The incidence of cervical cancer has declined since the mid-1970s, when Pap smear screening to detect early changes became widely available. But recent surveys have found that many women are putting off seeing their gynecologists.
A Harris Poll survey of more than 1,100 American women last year found that 72 percent said they had postponed an appointment with their doctor that would have included a screening. Half said they did not know how often they should be screened for cervical cancer.
(Present proposal It’s a bit complicated: Get a Pap smear every three years starting at age 21, or a combined Pap smear and test for human papillomavirus, which can cause cervical cancer, every five years.)
Another troubling trend began in 2021 when, for the first time, the incidence of lung cancer in women under 65 overtook that in men: 15.7 cases per 100,000 women under 65, men compared to 15.4 per 100,000 in
Lung cancer has been on the decline over the past decade, but it has fallen sharply in men. Women started smoking later than men and took longer to quit.
Smoking has also increased among people born after 1965, the year the Surgeon General first warned that cigarettes cause cancer.
Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, accounting for nearly 500 cancer deaths per day in 2025, mostly from lung cancer, the American Cancer Society said.
“There is growing concern that e-cigarettes and vaping may contribute to this burden in the future, given their carcinogenic potential and widespread popularity,” the report said.
Breast cancer rates has also been inched for many yearsBetween 2012 and 2021, it grew by about 1 percent each year. The largest increase was seen among women under 50, and the largest increases among Hispanic American, Asian American, and Pacific Islander women.
This increase is due to the detection of local tumors and certain cancers caused by hormones.
Some of the increase comes from changing fertility patterns. Childbearing and breastfeeding protect against breast cancer, but more American women are postponing childbearing — or choosing not to have children at all.
Other risk factors include genetics, family history and heavy drinking – a habit that has increased in women under 50. In older women, excess body weight may contribute to cancer risk.
Uterine cancer is the only cancer whose survival has declined over the past 40 years, the ACS said.
Death rates for liver cancer in women and oral cavity cancer for both sexes are also increasing.
Pancreatic cancer has been increasing in both men and women for decades. It is now the third leading cause of cancer death. As with many other cancers, obesity is believed to play a major role.
Little progress has been made in the understanding and treatment of pancreatic cancer. Mortality rates have been rising since recordkeeping began, reaching 13 per 100,000 in men today and 10 per 100,000 in women, up from about five per 100,000 in both men and women in the 1930s. .
The lack of progress has frustrated many scientists and clinicians. Cancer is often quite advanced when diagnosed, and the five-year survival rate is only 13 percent.
“In particular, we need to make progress in understanding what causes pancreatic cancer to develop, what treatments will then prevent these cancers, what can be prevented earlier, and how we can treat it sooner. how to test,” said Dr. Amy Abernathy, an oncologist who co-founded Highlander Health, which focuses on accelerating clinical research.
Some experts are beginning to recognize that, in addition to the usual suspects: lifestyle, genetics and family history, environmental exposures are contributing to early-onset cancers.
“I think that the increase in not just one but a variety of cancers in young people, especially in young women, suggests that there is something much more going on than variation in individual genetics or population genetics,” Neil Iyengar said. said, an oncologist at Memorial Sloan. Kettering Cancer Centre.
“This strongly suggests the possibility that environmental exposures in America and our lifestyles are contributing to the rise of cancer in young people.”
He noted that public health efforts aimed at reducing risky lifestyle behaviors have focused on those at highest risk and on older Americans, who still bear the burden of cancer.
But the risk factors may be different in young people.
Emerging research indicates that maintaining sleep routines, for example, may also help prevent cancer, he said.
Lifestyle and behavioral changes can reduce the risk of many cancers, Ms. Siegel said.
“I don’t think people realize how much control they have over their cancer risk,” he said. “There’s a lot we can all do. The most important thing is not to smoke.”
Among others: maintaining a healthy body weight; not drinking alcohol or using it in moderation; eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables and red and processed meat; physical activity; and regular cancer screening.
“These are all things you can do, but these are individual choices, so just pick one that you can focus on,” he said. “Small changes can make a difference.”