Cancer Survival Rises
From CNN:
The five-year cancer survival rate in the US has reached 70% for the first time, according to an American Cancer Society report released yesterday. The figure, based on diagnoses from 2015 to 2021, is up from 49% in the mid-1970s and 63% in the mid-1990s. The ACS attributes the rise to wider and earlier screening, lower smoking rates, and advances in targeted and immunotherapy treatments. Survival has improved across most major cancer types, including thyroid (98%), prostate (98%), testis (95%), melanoma (95%), and breast (92%), though racial, economic, and regional disparities persist. Myeloma (blood cancer) survival nearly doubled to 62% since the 1990s, and liver cancer survival more than tripled to 22%. Rates were lowest for cancers of the lung (28%), liver (22%), esophagus (22%), and pancreas (13%). Between 1991 and 2023, advances in cancer care prevented an estimated 4.8 million deaths. The ACS projects about 2.1 million new cases and over 626,000 cancer deaths in 2026. |
