Trivia: Recent Cancer Facts & Figures

• Cancer mortality rates in the USA continue to decline, but the number of actual cancer-related deaths has gone up. That is, death rates have decreased by 18.4% among men and 10.5% among women since the early 1990s, but by 2005 (the last year stats were available), there were 559,312 cancer deaths, compared to 553,888 in 2004. The explanation, according to a press release: "ACS epidemiologists attribute the rise in part to normal population changes. In 2005, the decrease in death rate was simply not large enough to offset the influence of aging in the population … In addition, there was a smaller decline in the death rate than in previous years. The cancer death rate dropped 1% between 2004 and 2005, compared with 2% between both 2002 to 2003 and 2003 to 2004."

• The ACS estimates that there will be 437,180 new cancer cases (745,180 in men and 692,000 in women) and 565,650 cancer deaths (294,120 among men and 271,530 among women) in 2008. (The estimate does not include basal and squamous cell skin cancers and non-invasive carcinomas except urinary bladder.)

• Leading sites for new cancer cases in males: prostate, at 186,320, representing 25% of new cases. And the leading cause of death in males: lung and bronchus cancer, at 90,810, representing 31% of cancer deaths.

• Leading sites for new cancer cases in females: breast, at 182,460, representing 26% of new cases. And the leading cause of death in females: lung and bronchus cancer, at 71,030, representing 26% of cancer deaths.

• African American men have a 19% higher incidence rate and 37% higher death rate from all cancers combined compared to white men. Compared to white women, African American women are less likely to get cancer, but more likely to die from it.

• An estimated 10,730 new cases of cancer among children aged 0 to 14 years are estimated for 2008. An estimated 1,490 deaths are expected to occur. The most common childhood cancer is leukemia, representing 32.6% of cases.

• The National Cancer Institute estimates that approximately 10.8 million Americans with a history of cancer were alive in January 2004. Some were cancer-free, and others were undergoing treatment.

• The five-year relative survival rate for all cancers diagnosed between 1996 and 2003 is 66%, up from 50% between 1975 and 1997.

• The National Institutes of Health estimate overall costs of cancer in 2007 at $219.2 billion, with $89.0 billion for direct medical costs; $18.2 billion for indirect morbidity costs (i.e., cost of lost productivity due to illness); and $112.0 billion for indirect mortality costs (i.e., cost of lost productivity due to premature death).

• The CSC estimated 159,900 new cancer cases and 72,700 deaths for 2007, with men outnumbering women for new cases by 7% and for deaths by 12%.

• Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in both males (29%) and females (26%).

• Three types of cancer account for at least 55% of new cases in each sex. In males, these are prostate, lung, and colorectal, and in females, these are breast, lung, and colorectal.

• Incidence and mortality rates are higher in Atlantic Canada and Quebec, and lowest in British Columbia. Incidence and mortality rates in Ontario are lower than the national average.

• Since 1994, mortality rates have declined for all cancers combined, and for most types of cancer in both sexes, with exceptions being lung cancer in females and liver cancer in males.

• 44% of new cancers and 60% of deaths due to cancer occur in those aged at least 70 years, while 20% of new cancers and 18% of cancer deaths will occur in young and middle-aged adults in their most productive stage of life.

• Based on current mortality rates, 24% of females and 28% of males will die from cancer.

• Each year, about 1,300 children will develop cancer, and about 210 will die. Leukemia was the most common cancer, accounting for 25% of new cases.

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