Report: Cancer deaths down, increase in young, middle-aged women developing cancer

The American Cancer Society released a new report on Thursday finding cancer deaths are dropping, but that progress is being hindered by an increase in young and middle-aged women developing cancer.

ACS released new findings and trends in a report, showing deaths from cancer dropped by 34% from 1991 to 2022, saving 4.5 million lives.

"It's really interesting that the overall, in the past 30 years, we've seen great strides with reducing cancer in general, but there are some populations that we see that are kind of increasing. So, that's definitely concerning," said Amie Miller, an advanced practice registered nurse with Sarasota Memorial Health Care System.

READ: Drinking coffee or tea may lower the risk of certain cancers

What they're saying:

Miller works directly with cancer patients, focusing on lung screenings as the manager of the lung cancer screening program at SMH. She shared her thoughts on the report that found women surpassed men in lung cancer for the first time.

"We are seeing more women diagnosed with lung cancer than men. And I think it may have to do with the fact that smoking rates are decreasing, had decreased in a slower manner for women than they did for men 20 or 30 years ago. And so now we're kind of seeing, you know, the other end of that," said Miller.

By the numbers:

Those trends aren’t limited to lung cancer. The report found cancer rates are increasing in young and middle-aged women under 50, making women in that age group 82% more likely to develop cancer than men, up from 51% in 2002. 

Breast and cervical cancers were among the types seeing a sharp jump in that age group. Scientists also found racial disparities persist with more deaths among minorities.

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Miller said socio-economic inequities also play a role.

"If you can't read at a sixth-grade level, if you don't have a car to go to your doctor's appointments or if you're not buying healthy food, those things are going to overall impact your outcomes as well," said Miller.

What we don't know:

The report does not dive into why the numbers aren’t moving in the right direction overall, but Miller said finding answers will save more lives.

"Our nation spends so much money treating, trying to cure people from diseases, and so we can really focus on prevention. I think that that is where it's at," said Miller.

What you can do:

Doctors said it’s important to get screened since early detection matters. You can check to see if there are any eligibility requirements, like for lung cancer screenings. Healthcare providers advise you to pay attention to your body and its changes in case you need to go get something checked out.

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