A Snapshot of the Shifting Cancer Picture in America

While cancer death rates are falling overall, the rising incidence of cancer in young and middle-aged women is shifting the burden of the disease, according to the American Cancer Society’s most recent report on cancer facts and trends.

Cancer deaths in the United States fell by 34 percent from 1991 to 2022, averting approximately 4.5 million deaths, the report shows. That’s the good news.

However, this progress was offset by increasing rates for many types of cancer, especially among women and younger adults — certainly cause for concern. For example, cancer rates in women under 50 are now 82 percent higher than for men in the same age category.

Incidence rates continue to climb for common cancers, including breast, prostate, pancreatic, uterine, melanoma, liver, and oral cavity cancers associated with the human papillomavirus (HPV).

Making the Most of Good Information

At Baptist Health Miami Cancer Institute and Lynn Cancer Institute at Boca Raton Regional Hospital, experts continue to emphasize the importance of regular screenings, maintaining a healthy lifestyle and seeking medical care as early as possible when you experience worrisome symptoms.

Thomas Morrissey, M.D., director of gynecologic oncology for Lynn Cancer Institute, part of Baptist Health Cancer Care

“The big message is prevention, prevention, prevention,” says Thomas Morrissey, M.D., director of gynecologic oncology for Lynn Cancer Institute, part of Baptist Health Cancer Care.

The American Cancer Society report emphasizes that a significant proportion of cancer cases are potentially avoidable. Excluding non-melanoma skin cancer, at least 40 percent of newly diagnosed cancers in U.S. adults — about 811,000 cases in 2025 — are linked to modifiable risk factors, the figures show. These include cigarette smoking (19 percent), excess body weight (8 percent) and alcohol consumption (5 percent).

While the five-year relative survival rate for most cancers has improved in the last 40 years, noteworthy exceptions are endometrial or uterine cancer and cervical cancer, whose survival rates have declined.

Uterine cancer in the fifth most common cause of death from cancer in women. There have only been modest advances in treatment and there are no recommended screening tests to detect this disease early, according to the report. About 70 percent of cases are found at an early stage when women seek care for symptoms such as unusual vaginal bleeding after intercourse, after menopause or between periods; longer or heavier than usual menstrual periods; vaginal discharge; and pelvic pain or pain during intercourse.

John Paul Diaz, M.D., chief of gynecologic oncology at Baptist Health Miami Cancer Institute

This is one reason Dr. Morrissey and John Paul Diaz, M.D., chief of gynecologic oncology at Baptist Health Miami Cancer Institute, urge all women — even those who don’t have a sexual partner or are beyond menopause — to continue regular check-ups to monitor their overall gynecological health.

Dr. Morrisey and Dr. Diaz are staunch advocates of the HPV vaccine, which can help prevent certain cancers, as well as screening that can detect cellular changes before cervical cancer can develop. “With the screening programs available to women today — utilizing Pap smears and HPV testing, in combination with the HPV vaccine — we should be able to completely eliminate cervical cancer in the United States,” Dr. Diaz says.

Alessandro Villa, DDS, MPH, Ph.D., chief of Oral Medicine, Oral Oncology and Dentistry at Baptist Health Miami Cancer Institute

Another advocate of the HPV vaccine is Alessandro Villa, DDS, MPH, Ph.D., chief of Oral Medicine, Oral Oncology and Dentistry at Baptist Health Miami Cancer Institute.

Cancers of the back of the tongue and throat, also known as oropharyngeal cancer, are on the rise, according to the American Cancer Society report. These include cancers on the tongue, on the tissue lining the mouth and gums, under the tongue and the area of the throat at the back of the mouth.

While smoking and tobacco use are considered major risks for oral and oropharyngeal cancer, HPV is responsible for the majority of cases today, Dr. Villa notes. “Right now in the United States, oropharyngeal cancer is the number one HPV-related cancer,” Dr. Villa says. “It has surpassed the rates of cervical cancers that are HPV-related.”

Warning signs of oropharyngeal cancer include difficulty swallowing, a lump in the neck on one side that doesn't go away, a mouth sore that doesn't heal, a persistent sore throat, and difficulty moving the tongue right and left. Anyone experiencing such symptoms should consult a doctor.

Another prevention method is to get regular dental checkups, especially for those who haven’t received the HPV vaccine and smokers, Dr. Villa says. Dentists are often the first to detect oral cancer because they can see abnormalities in the mouth.

Taking personal action is important, Dr. Morrissey agrees. “Patients should always discuss their own circumstances with their gynecologist or primary care physician to decide on the best strategy for them,” he says. “That’s why regular screenings are so important. Ideally, you want to catch it when it is most treatable.”

Louise Morrell, M.D., medical director of Lynn Cancer Institute at Boca Raton Regional Hospital, part of Baptist Health

Louise Morrell, M.D., medical director of Lynn Cancer Institute, concurs. A medical oncologist, Dr. Morrell began her career specializing in breast cancer treatment and has spent more than 25 years focusing on cancer genetics and hereditary cancer syndromes.

“The expanded use of genetic testing to identify individuals at higher cancer risk such as breast, ovarian, colon, uterine, pancreas, prostate cancer and other rare tumors can identify individuals who can benefit from advanced screening and prevention,” she says.

Taking a Sharper Focus on Cancer Numbers

Overall, in 2025, there will be an estimated 2 million new cancer diagnoses in the United States — or 5,600 each day — and more than 600,000 cancer deaths, the American Cancer Society report said.

Cancer mortality has declined in the United States because of reductions in smoking, earlier detection for some cancers, and improved treatment, including recent developments in targeted treatment and immunotherapy. However, progress is lagging in cancer prevention, the report found.

Middle-aged women now have slightly higher cancer risk than their male counterparts, and young women are almost twice as likely to be diagnosed as young men. Incidence rates in women 50-64 years of age have surpassed those in men. This pattern includes lung cancer, which is now higher in women than in men among people younger than 65 years.

Overall progress against cancer could be accelerated by increasing investment in both cancer prevention and treatment, especially for uterine and pancreatic cancer, and mitigating disparities through expanded access to high-quality care, the report said.

The report also found:

• The five-year relative survival rate for all cancers combined has increased from 49 percent for diagnoses during the mid-1970s to 69 percent during 2014-2020, with the highest contemporary survival for cancers of the thyroid (98 percent), prostate (97 percent), testis (95 percent) and melanoma (94 percent).

• Liver cancer has had the largest increase in relative survival — from 3 percent to 22 percent. However, it is still one of the cancers with the lowest survival rates, along with cancers in the lung with a 27 percent relative survival rate, esophagus with 22 percent, and pancreas with 13 percent.

• Despite decades of decline, lung cancer continues to dwarf other cancers in the number of deaths, causing more deaths in 2022 than colorectal, breast and prostate cancers combined. The lung cancer death rate has dropped by 61 percent from its peak because of earlier detection and treatment advances that have extended survival.

• Female breast cancer mortality peaked in 1989 and has since decreased by 44 percent through 2022, translating to the avoidance of more than 517,900 deaths. A recent study attributed three-fourths of this progress to treatment advances, and the remainder to earlier diagnosis through mammography screening.

• The prostate cancer death rate in 2022 was 52 percent lower than the peak in 1993 because of earlier detection through PSA screening and advances in treatment. However, prostate cancer incidence showed the steepest increase at 3 percent per year from 2014 to 2021.

• Alarming inequalities in cancer mortality persist. Black people are twice as likely to die of prostate, stomach and uterine corpus cancers compared to white people and 50 percent more likely to die from cervical cancer, which is preventable. Native American people have mortality rates two to three times higher than white people for kidney, liver, stomach and cervical cancers.