American Cancer Society - Relay For Life in Braintree

ACS Cancer Facts & Figures 2003

Article Date: 01/22/2003

In the newly released Cancer Facts & Figures 2003, it is estimated that in the US there will be 1,334,100 new cancer cases and 556,500 deaths from cancer this year. The American Cancer Society (ACS) releases this comprehensive guide, as well as Cancer Prevention & Early Detection Facts & Figures, every January.

The first, Cancer Facts & Figures 2003, features the ACS’s estimates of new cancer cases and deaths for the current year. This year, it also includes a special section on smoking cessation.

The second, Cancer Prevention & Early Detection Facts & Figures 2003 presents data on national and state tobacco use, nutrition, physical activity, and use of cancer screening tests.

According to the latest data, the death rate for all cancers combined is about 30% higher in African Americans than in white Americans. However, both incidence and mortality decreased more among African-American men than any other racial and ethnic group between 1992 and 1999.

The five-year relative survival rate for all cancers combined (the percentage of people with cancer who do not die from it within five years) is 62%.

Lung cancer will remain by far the number one cause of cancer death in the US, with an estimated 157,200 deaths expected in 2003.

Estimates for the other three leading sites of cancer for 2003:

Breast Cancer (Women and Men) — New cases: 212,600. Deaths: 40,200

Colorectal Cancer — New cases: 147,500. Deaths: 57,100

Prostate Cancer — New cases: 220,900. Deaths: 28,900

Incidence and death rates from lung cancer continue to decrease in men, and have leveled off in women. Despite the increasing incidence for breast cancer, the death rate from this cancer continues to fall. Regarding prostate cancer, although death rates have decreased since the early 1990s, rates in African-American men remain more than twice as high as rates in white men

The special section on smoking discusses advances in the understanding of tobacco dependence and treatment. And it highlights current information on smoking cessation. In the US, cigarette smoking alone causes about 30% of cancer deaths, and an estimated $157 billion in annual health-related economic losses are attributable to smoking.

The special section presents strategies and suggests policies that, if acted on appropriately, have the potential to increase smoking cessation rates and to prevent millions from premature deaths from smoking, according to the ACS.

The Cancer Prevention & Early Detection Facts & Figures 2003 provides the most current data on tobacco use, nutrition, physical activity, obesity, and cancer screening. It presents information on these modifiable risk factors and on screening behaviors that affect cancer incidence, mortality, and survival.

The publication of the 2003 editions marks the first use of the 2000 US population age-adjustment standard in these estimates. This is a change from previous statistical methods used by the ACS, and it also has been adopted by US agencies that publish cancer statistics.

Experts use this "age-adjustment" method to compare groups of people with different age compositions. Since cancer is generally a disease of older people, this is important when comparing cancer rates for various states. For example, it is more accurate when comparing Florida, a state with a large elderly population, with Alaska, which has a younger population. Without adjusting for age, it would appear that cancer rates in Florida are much higher, when in fact the rates are similar.

The new standard applies to data from 1999 forward, and requires a recalculation of age-adjusted rates for previous years before valid comparisons can be made between the current year and past years.

Links

Statistics for 2003