Annual survey of cancer data finds increasing diagnoses among women: Shots

Women’s cancer rates are rising faster than men’s, according to a new report.

fstop123/E+/Getty Images

hide caption

change caption

fstop123/E+/Getty Images

A study published Thursday points to a mixed and rapidly changing picture in cancer trends. On the one hand, the American Cancer Society’s annual survey found that mortality from the disease fell rapidly, by 34%, between 1991 and 2022. But at the same time, more young and middle-aged women are getting the disease.

New techniques for detecting and treating many cancers have revolutionized survival rates over the past few decades. But these gains are threatened by the growing threat of earlier-onset cancers affecting those under 65, who historically were not at high risk of developing the disease.

The American Cancer Society report projects that more than 2 million new cases of cancer will be diagnosed by 2025 and more than 600,000 people will die.

The study found that women see spikes. Overall, cancer rates among women under 50 were 82% higher than their male counterparts in 2021, up from 51% in 2002. Women aged 50-64 also get cancer at a higher rate than men.

In particular, breast cancer has risen more rapidly among women under 50 – it has increased by 1.4% per year since the mid-2000s, compared with an annual increase of 0.7% among older women.

“Continued reductions in cancer mortality due to declines in smoking, better treatment and earlier detection are certainly good news,” Rebecca Siegelsenior scientific director for surveillance research at the American Cancer Society, said in a statement. “However, this progress is tempered by increasing incidence in young and middle-aged women, who are often the family caregivers, and a shifting burden of cancer from men to women.”

For men, the picture is mixed. There have been large declines in the incidence of lung cancer for men of all ages since 1975, but prostate cancer has been on the rise; it increased starting in 2014.

The study also points to racial disparities in access to health care and prevention. Black and Native American people die from certain cancers at rates 2 to 3 times higher than their white counterparts. Cervical cancer, which is considered treatable if monitored through pap smears, kills people in these communities at much higher rates.

While treatments and immunotherapies have helped survival rates for many types of cancer, the same progress is not seen across all forms of the disease. Mortality is increasing among cancers of the oral cavity, pancreas, uterine body and liver, for example.