Cancer death rates decline yet new diagnoses spike for some groups, says report

A major annual cancer report has revealed a mix of good news and points of concern.

Cancer diagnoses are expected to exceed two million in 2025, with approximately 618,120 deaths predicted, according to the American Cancer Society’s annual cancer trends report, which was published today in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.

ACS researchers compiled data from central cancer registries and from the National Center for Health Statistics.

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While mortality rates have declined, certain groups are seeing a spike in diagnoses, the report noted.

"Continued reductions in cancer mortality because of drops in smoking, better treatment and earlier detection is certainly great news," said lead author Rebecca Siegel, senior scientific director of surveillance research at the ACS in Georgia, in a press release.

"However, this progress is tempered by rising incidences 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."

Cancer death rates dropped 34% between 1991 and 2022, according to the ACS report.

That equates to approximately 4.5 million deaths avoided due to early detection, reductions in smoking, and improvements in treatment, the report stated.

Several factors likely contributed to this decline, noted John D. Carpten, Ph.D., chief scientific officer at City of Hope, a national cancer research and treatment organization in California.

"I think a big one is smoking cessation and the battle against lung cancer, which has always been the most common form of cancer and is tied to tobacco use," Carpten told Fox News Digital in an on-camera interview.

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"But without a doubt, I think new and better methods for early detection, and screening for colorectal cancer and other forms of the disease, have also allowed us to see a decrease." 

Lifestyle improvements have also helped to decrease mortality, he said, along with the development of new and better therapies for cancer.

Despite overall declines in mortality, the report revealed that death rates are rising for cancers of the oral cavity, pancreas, uterine corpus and liver (for females).

Some common cancers have also seen an increase in diagnoses, including breast (female), prostate, pancreatic, uterine corpus, melanoma (female), liver (female) and oral cancers associated with the human papillomavirus, the report stated.

Diagnoses for many cancer types are increasing among certain groups.

Cancer rates for women 50 to 64 years of age have surpassed those for men, the report revealed. For women under 50, rates are 82% higher than males in that age group.

As far as what is influencing the "disconcerting trend" in women’s cancers, Carpten said it is likely "highly nuanced" and will require additional research.

"The decrease in fertility and increases in obesity that we’ve seen are risk factors for breast cancer, especially in postmenopausal middle-aged women," he said. 

"But there could be other modifiable risk factors at play, like alcohol and physical activity."

Another trend in the increase in early cancers is occurring in individuals under the age of 50, Carpten noted.

In particular, the report revealed that diagnoses of colorectal cancer in men and women under 65 and cervical cancer in women between 30 and 44 years of age has increased.

The report also discusses inequities in cancer rates among certain ethnic groups, with Native American and Black people experiencing higher diagnoses of some cancer types.

"Progress against cancer continues to be hampered by striking, wide static disparities for many racial and ethnic groups," said senior author Dr. Ahmedin Jemal, senior vice president of surveillance and health equity science at the ACS, in the release.

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The report shows mixed trends for children, with diagnoses declining in recent years for patients 14 years of age and younger, but rising for adolescents between 15 and 19.

"Mortality rates have dropped by 70% in children and by 63% in adolescents since 1970, largely because of improved treatment for leukemia," the ACS stated in the release.

The ACS report also warns about "lagging progress" against pancreatic cancer, the third-leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. 

Rates of diagnoses and deaths from the disease type are on the rise.

"Pancreatic is an incredibly deadly form of cancer," Carpten said. 

One of the main issues with pancreatic cancer, he said, is that it sometimes can grow in an individual for up to 10 years before it's detected.

One of the best opportunities for beating pancreatic cancer is early detection, Carpten said. 

"By the time those cancers have advanced, they've spread to the liver or other organs, and they’re almost impossible to cure at that stage," he said.

"If we can identify those cancers when they're at a curable stage, we can improve outcomes."

Making progress in fighting cancer will require a collaborative effort, Carpten told Fox News Digital.

"It will require partnerships between the community, the health care system, cancer researchers, government, industry — we all have to work together if we want to continue to see a decrease and an ultimate increase in cures," he said.

Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick, interim chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), stated that the report highlights the need to "increase investment in both cancer treatment and care, including equitable screening programs."

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"Screening programs are a critical component of early detection, and expanding access to these services will save countless lives," he said in the release.

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"We also must address these shifts in cancer incidence, mainly among women. A concerted effort between health care providers, policymakers and communities needs to be prioritized to assess where and why mortality rates are rising."

Fox News Digital reached out to the ACS for further comment.