U.S. Cancer Statistics 2021: 1.89 million new cases and 600,000 deaths, the second year in a row that the death rate has dropped sharply

Each year, the American Cancer Society (ACS) estimates new cancer cases and deaths in the United States and compiles the latest cancer data.
2021, the latest study was published on January 12 in the journal CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinics with an impact factor of 292.278.
year's results see: Cancer Statistics 2020: Record-breaking cancer deaths in the United States Cancer is a major public health problem worldwide, and cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, after cardiovascular disease.
2020, the 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic hinders the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
in this article, we provide a comprehensive overview of new cancer cases and deaths across the United States and the states in 2020, as well as the latest demographic data based on 2017 and 2018 mortality rates.
researchers at the American Cancer Society also say that until full data are available, it is not clear what the full impact of the new crown outbreak will be on future cancer morbidity and death.
report notes that after much of the 20th century, cancer mortality has continued to decline from its peak in 1991 to 2018, with total mortality falling by 31%, including a 2.4% decline in 2017-2018 and a record one-year decline for the second year in a row (Cancer Statistics 2020: Record decline in cancer mortality in the United States).
The expected number of newly diagnosed cancer cases and the likelihood of new cancers in the United States will be about 1898,160 new cancer cases in 2021, equivalent to 5,200 new cases per day, and the overall number of new tumors will be similar to last year (2020 U.S. Cancer Statistics Report: or 1.8 million new cancer cases).
, there will be about 49,290 new diagnoses of DCIS in women and 101,280 new diagnoses of in-place melanoma.
of newly diagnosed tumors, men and women ranked first for prostate and breast cancer, accounting for 26% and 30% of all new tumors, respectively! Lung cancer, colorectal cancer, urinary system tumors, and melanoma ranked 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th among men and women.
1 Estimated new cases and deaths by sex by major cancer types in the United States in 2021.
rankings are based on model predictions and may be different from the latest observations.
(Source: CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians) The most common cancers diagnosed in men and women in 2021, prostate, lung and bronchal cancer (CRC) accounted for 46% of all cases in men and prostate cancer alone accounted for 26% of diagnosed cases.
breast cancer, lung cancer and CRC account for 50 per cent of all newly diagnosed cancers for women, and breast cancer alone accounts for 30 per cent for women.
men (40.5 per cent) were slightly higher than women (38.9 per cent), reflecting differences in life expectancy and cancer risk.
differences in overall cancer incidence decreased over time, the incidence rate of men and women (IRR) decreased from 1.39 (95% CI, 1.38-1.40) in 1995 to 1.14 (95% CI, 1.13-1.14) in 2017.
period, the incidence rate for women overall decreased by 2 per cent, while for men by 20 per cent, mainly due to differences in trends in lung cancer.
, however, these overall gender differences mask the risk differences in the younger population.
, for example, in childhood (0-14 years of age), the incidence of boys is 10% higher than that of girls (IRR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.09-1.13), while in adulthood In the early stages (20-49 years of age), male incidence was 44% lower (IRR, 0.56; 95% CI, 0.5580.563), mainly due to breast cancer in young women.
the gender differences are not fully understood, but may largely reflect differences in exposure to environmental risk factors and endogenetic hormones, as well as the complex interactions between these effects.
differences in immune function and response may also play a role.
estimates that 608,570 Americans will die from cancer by 2021, equivalent to more than 1,600 deaths a day.
men are the most likely to die from lung, prostate and colon cancer, and women are the most likely to die from lung, breast and colon cancer (Figure 1).
mortality rate, which is lower than lung cancer, is lower than lung cancer, although it is the highest in the world each year, thanks to significant advances in the treatment of prostate and breast cancer.
lung cancer still tops both men and women in terms of mortality, accounting for 22 per cent of all cancer deaths.
breast cancer was second among men and second among women.
colorectal cancer and pancreatic cancer ranked 3rd and 4th respectively, consistent with trends in men and women.
a quarter of cancer deaths are caused by lung cancer, 82% of which are directly caused by smoking.
means that about 107,870 people will die from lung cancer caused by smoking in 2021, another 3,590 from secondhand smoke and 20,420 from lung cancer.
, non-smoking-related lung cancer accounts for a considerable burden, ranking among the top 10 causes of cancer deaths among men and women.
women have a higher rate of non-smoking-related lung cancer than men, smoking remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, costing more than $300 billion a year.
, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has redouble its efforts to increase smoking cessation, including this year's new health director's report.
smokers who quit before the age of 40 had a about 90 percent lower risk of dying from smoking-related diseases than those who continued to smoke.
Trends in Cancer Incidence Figure 2 Trends in Cancer Incidence (1975-2017) and Mortality (1975-2018) in the United States by Sex.
(Source: CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians) Figure 2 illustrates long-term trends in overall cancer incidence, reflecting changes in behavior patterns and medical practices associated with cancer risk, such as the use of cancer screening tests.
For example, the surge in male incidence in the early 1990s reflected a rapid change in the incidence of prostate cancer, as a result of extensive prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing in previously uncensored men, leading to a surge in detection of asymptomatic diseases.
from the early 1990s to around 2013, the overall incidence of cancer in men generally declined, but has remained stable since then (until 2017), reflecting a slowdown in colorectal cancer and a halt in the decline in prostate cancer.
From 2007 to 2014, the sharp decline in prostate cancer rates was attributed to a decrease in PSA testing, as concerns grew about overdiagnosis and overtreatment, and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended that PSA testing not be routinely used to screen for prostate cancer (D-grade).
There has been an increase in long-term prostate cancer diagnoses in the 38-40 age group and race since around 2010, and in 2017 the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force upgraded its recommendations for men aged 55 to 69 to an informed decision-making (C-level).
there is some evidence that the long-term benefits of screening are underestimated, especially in view of the recent reduction of over-testing through stricter diagnostic criteria and the reduction of overtreated progress through active monitoring of low-risk diseases.
3 The incidence of various types of tumors (SOURCE: CA: ACancer Journal for Clinicians) After a steady incidence over the past few decades, the overall incidence of cancer in women has increased slightly in recent years.
this partly reflects a slower decline in colorectal cancer, while the incidence of breast and uterine cancer is on the rise (Figure 3).
incidence of breast cancer continues to rise at a rate of about 0.5 per cent per year, at least in part due to continued fertility decline and weight gain.
These factors may also lead to a sustained increase in the incidence of uterine cancer by about 1 per cent per year, although a recent study suggests that this trend is driven by non-endometrial-like subtypes, rather than endometrial-like subtypes, which are less associated with the incidence of endometrial cancer, and endometrial-like cancer.
in recent decades, the incidence of thyroid cancer in women has begun to decline (although not in men) following more conservative diagnostic measures in response to a sharp rise in a large number of painless tumors.
incidence of lung cancer has fallen twice as fast among men as in women, reflecting historical differences in smoking and smoking cessation in some birth queues and an increase in smoking rates among women.
, however, the pattern of smoking does not seem to fully explain why women have a higher incidence of lung cancer than men in people born since 1960.
contrast, colorectal cancer patterns are generally similar in men and women, both of which experienced rapid decline in the 21st century after the widespread use of colonoscopy slowed in recent years (Figure 3).
, the decline in the overall incidence of CRC masks an increase in the incidence of adults aged 65.
The incidence of kidney, pancreatic, oral and throat cancers (non-Hispanic whites) and skin melanoma among men and women continues to rise, and the incidence of liver cancer has stabilized in men, but is still rising by more than 2 per cent per year for women.
the majority (71%) of these cases are preventable, as most risk factors for liver cancer can be altered (e.g. obesity, excessive drinking, smoking, hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus (HCV).
C virus infection is the most common chronic blood-based infection in the United States, with the highest relative risk, accounting for one-fourth of liver cancer cases.
To reduce the burden of rising hepatitis C-related diseases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force have released a new report recommending one-time HCV testing for all adults older than 18 years of age by 2020.
survival rate of cancers in the United States 4 5-year relative survival rates for selected cancers by race and stage of diagnosis, 2010-2016.
margin of error is between 5 and 10 percentage points.
† 96 percent for all races, 96 percent for whites and 93 percent for blacks.
key points in the survival rate of the U.S. Government (SOURCE: CA: ACancer Journal for Clinicians): Cancer is the leading cause of death for Hispanics, Asian Americans, and Alaska Natives.
between 2010 and 2016, the five-year relative survival rate for all cancer diagnoses totaled 67 percent, compared with 68 percent for whites and 63 percent for blacks.
Among all stages of cancer, the highest survival rates were prostate cancer (98 per cent), skin melanoma (93 per cent) and female breast cancer (90 per cent), and the lowest survival rates were pancreatic cancer (10 per cent), liver cancer (20 per cent), esophageal cancer (20 per cent) and lung cancer (21 per cent).
with the exception of pancreatic cancer, the survival rate of black patients with each type of cancer was lower than that of white patients.
of black cancer patients was 33 percent higher than white cancer patients when gender, age, and diagnosis were corrected.
differences between native American Indian/Alaska native patients, where the risk of cancer death was 51 percent higher than in white patients.
from 2010 to 2016, the five-year relative survival rate for all cancers diagnosed was 67 percent, with 68 percent for whites and 63 percent for blacks.
4 shows a five-year relative survival rate for selected cancer types by stage of diagnosis and race.
Of all stages, prostate cancer (98 per cent), skin melanoma (93 per cent) and female breast cancer (90 per cent) had the highest survival rates, with pancreatic cancer (10 per cent), liver cancer (20 per cent), esophageal cancer (20 per cent) and lung cancer (21 per cent) the lowest survival rates.
for each type of cancer shown in Figure 4, black patients had lower survival rates than whites, with the exception of the pancreas and kidneys, both of which had the same survival rates.
since the mid-1970s, survival rates for all the most common cancers, with the exception of cervical and uterine cancers, have increased, largely reflecting the major advances in the treatment of these cancers.
the survival rate of hemastomas and lymphatic malignancies has increased particularly rapidly as a result of improvements in treatment options, including the development of targeted therapies.
For example, the five-year relative survival rate of chronic granulocytic leukemia rose from 22 percent in the mid-1970s to 72 percent between 2010 and 2016, with most patients receiving targeted treatment that was close to normal life expectancy.
Trends in Cancer Mortality 5 Total number of cancer-avoiding deaths among men and women in the United States from 1991 to 2018 and from 1992 to 2018.
blue line indicates the actual number of cancer deaths recorded each year, and the red line indicates the expected number of cancer deaths if the cancer mortality rate remains at its highest level.
cancer deaths rose for much of the 20th century, mainly due to the rapid increase in lung cancer deaths among men as a result of the tobacco epidemic.
, however, the decline in smoking and improvements in the early detection and treatment of certain cancers have led to a continuous decline in cancer mortality since peaking at 215.1 per 100,000 people in 1991.
31 per cent (149.0 per 100,000 people) by 2018.
means that cancer deaths (2170,700 for men and 1017,800 for women) are estimated to be 3188,500 fewer than at the peak of mortality (Figure 5).
men avoid death twice as many as women because the male mortality rate peaks higher and falls faster (Figure 6).
6 Overall trends in cancer mortality by sex and partial cancer mortality in the United States, 1930-2018