Oliver: New cancer statistics highlight need to be diligent about screenings

Each day this year, 5,600 of us will learn that we have cancer, resulting in an estimated 2,041,910 new diagnoses. Sadly, an estimated 618,120 of us will die.

If you are a cancer survivor, as I am, those numbers might hit you in a very personal way.

The American Cancer Society last week released Cancer Statistics, 2025, the organization’s annual report on cancer facts and trends.

What struck me most is the fact that despite an overall decrease in the cancer mortality rate, some cancers are increasing, and they are doing so among women and younger adults.

The cancer mortality rate decreased 34% from 1991 to 2022 in the United States; that means about 4.5 million deaths were averted.

Still, despite that good news, the burden of cancer has shifted. For example, incidence rates in women 50 to 64 years of age have surpassed those in men, and rates in women under 50 are now 82% higher than their male counterparts, up from 51% in 2002.

“Continued reductions in cancer mortality because of drops in smoking, better treatment and earlier detection is certainly good news,” Rebecca Siegel, senior scientific director of surveillance research at the American Cancer Society and lead author of the report, said in a news release. “However, this progress is tempered by rising incidence in young and middle-aged women, who are often the family caregivers, and a shifting cancer burden from men to women, harkening back to the early 1900s when cancer was more common in women.”

The report also highlights lagging progress against pancreatic cancer, which is the third-leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. The five-year survival rate is just 8% for the 9 out of 10 people diagnosed with pancreatic exocrine tumors. Both the incidence and mortality rates are increasing for this cancer.

Perhaps that’s because, unlike other forms of cancer, pancreatic cancer often is found only when it is in its later stages. Signs and symptoms can be weight loss, abdominal pain that may radiate to the back, jaundice, nausea and vomiting, according to the American Cancer Society.

Death rates also are continuing to climb for cancers of the oral cavity, uterine corpus and liver (female), according to the report.

Incidence rates are still climbing for the most common cancers, including breast (female), prostate, pancreatic, uterine corpus, melanoma (female), liver (female) and oral cancers associated with the human papillomavirus.

The rates of new cases of colorectal cancer in men and women younger than 65 and cervical cancer in women (30 to 44 years of age) also have increased.

The good news for all of us is that there are things that we can do to prevent getting cancer in the first place. The American Cancer Society estimates that excluding non-melanoma skin cancer, at least 40% of newly diagnosed cancers in U.S. adults are preventable; that amounts to about 811,000 cases in 2025.

How? Well, 19% of those cases are caused by cigarette smoking, 8% of them are caused by excess body weight, and 5% are caused by alcohol consumption. These are all lifestyle choices we can control.

Additionally, the Cancer Society notes that screening can help prevent colorectal and cervical cancers by detecting precancerous lesions so they can be removed before they lead to cancer, thus reducing the risk of death from these cancers.

Early detection is key for cancers of the breast, lung and prostate, because getting these early means getting treatment when it’s more likely to be successful.

I can personally speak to that when it comes to breast cancer. Had my cancer not been found when it was still small, I might not be here to share these cancer statistics with you.

If all of this tells me anything, it’s that we all – no matter what our age is anymore – need to stay on top of our health. If something doesn’t feel right, don’t dismiss it as nothing. Get it checked.

Be diligent in getting screened. Yes, even the caregivers who will tell you that they don’t have time. Make the time.

For more information and to read the report, click here.

• Joan Oliver is the former Northwest Herald assistant news editor. She has been associated with the Northwest Herald since 1990. She can be reached at jolivercolumn@gmail.com.