The findings in the American Cancer Society (ACS) annual report, Cancer Statistics, 2025,1 showed a mixed trend in cancer incidence and mortality rates. Although cancer mortality declined by 34% from 1991 to 2022 in the United States—largely because of smoking reductions, earlier detection, and improved treatment—averting nearly 4.5 million deaths, increasing incidence for many cancer types, especially among middle-aged and younger women, as well as persistent racial inequalities threaten to stall future gains in cancer, according to the report by Rebecca L. Siegel, MPH, Senior Scientific Director of Surveillance Research of the American Cancer Society, and colleagues, published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.1
Rebecca L. Siegel, MPH
For example, incidence rates in women between the ages of 50 and 64 have surpassed those in men (832.5 vs 830.6 per 100,000), and women younger than age 50 have an 82% higher incidence rate than their male counterparts (141.1 vs 77.4 per 100,000), up from 51% in 2002. Also alarming is the rise in lung cancer incidence in women, which surpassed that in men among individuals younger than age 65 in 2021 (15.7 vs 15. 4 per 100,000; relative risk, 0.98, P = .03). This pattern, according to the report, is similar to the pre-tobacco epidemic era, when the cancer burden was higher in women than in men, “and may be a bellwether for the future cancer landscape.”
In addition, the report found that Native Americans have the highest cancer mortality in the country, including rates that are two to three times higher than those found in White individuals for kidney, liver, stomach, and cervical cancers. Similarly, Black individuals have a twofold higher mortality than White individuals for prostate and stomach cancers. And Black women have the highest cancer mortality for breast and uterine corpus cancers, with the latter from twofold to threefold that of all other women.
Ahmedin Jemal, DVM, PhD
“Progress against cancer continues to be hampered by striking, wide static disparities for many racial and ethnic groups,” said Ahmedin Jemal, DVM, PhD, Senior Vice President of Surveillance & Health Equity Science at the American Cancer Society, and senior author of this study, in a statement. “It’s essential to help end discrimination and inequality in cancer care for all populations. Taking this step is vital to closing this persistent gap and moving us closer to ending cancer as we know it, for everyone.”
Conflicting Cancer Patterns
Also outlined in Cancer Statistics, 2025 are the following trends:
• Despite overall declines in cancer mortality, death rates are increasing for cancers of the oral cavity, pancreas, uterine corpus, and liver in women.
• Mortality rates for pancreatic cancer, the third leading cause of cancer death, have gradually increased from about 5 per 100,000 in both men and women in the 1930s to 13 per 100,000 men and 10 per 100,000 women today. The 5-year survival rate is just 8% for 9 of 10 people diagnosed with the disease.
• Incidence rates continue to climb for common cancers, including breast (female), prostate (steepest increase at 3% per year from 2014–2021), pancreatic, uterine corpus, melanoma (female), liver (female), and oral cancers associated with the human papillomavirus.
• The rates of new diagnoses of colorectal cancer in men and women younger than age 65 and of cervical cancer in women (aged 30–44) have also increased.
Although cancer incidence in children (aged 14 and younger) declined in recent years after decades of increase, it has continued to rise among adolescents (aged 15–19). Mortality rates have decreased by 70% in children and by 63% in adolescents since 1970, largely because of improved treatment of leukemia.
Providing Equitable Care for Patients
“This report underscores the need to increase investment in both cancer treatment and care, including equitable screening programs, especially for underserved groups of patients and survivors,” said Wayne A.I. Frederick, MD, MBA, Interim Chief Executive
This report underscores the need to increase investment in both cancer treatment and care, including equitable screening programs, especially for underserved groups of patients and survivors.— Wayne A.I. Frederick, MD, MBA
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Officer of the American Cancer Society and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. “Screening programs are a critical component of early detection, and expanding access to these services will save countless lives. 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.”
DISCLOSURE: The study authors reported no conflicts of interest.
REFERENCE
1. Siegel RL, Kratzer TB, Giaquinto AN, et al: Cancer statistics, 2025. CA Cancer J Clin 75:10-45, 2025.
