Cancer death rate falls 35% in 10 years: Report

 The U.S. cancer death rate declined 35% between 2015 and 2024, averting more than 4.8 million deaths, according to the American Association for Cancer Research’s 16th annual Cancer Progress Report, published Sept. 16.

While the overall cancer death rate continues to fall, the AACR expects cancer incidence in the U.S. to climb.

Here are eight things healthcare leaders need to know from the report:

1. Death rates fell an average of 4.2% per year for lung cancer, 1.3% for colorectal cancer and 1.2% for female breast cancer between 2015 and 2024.
   
   
2. An estimated 2.1 million new cancer cases will be diagnosed in 2026.
   
   By 2050, the number of annual cancer diagnoses is projected to rise to 2.5 million.
   
   
3. More than 18.6 million people with a history of cancer were living in the U.S. as of Jan. 1, 2025.
   
   AACR researchers expect 22 million people to be living with cancer or a history of cancer by 2035.
   
   
4. Five-year relative survival rates for patients diagnosed between 2016 and 2022 varied widely by cancer type: 92% for breast cancer and 96% for prostate cancer, compared with 14% for pancreatic cancer and 7% for glioblastoma multiforme.
   
   Survival for metastatic disease remained far lower, at 34% for breast cancer and 40% for prostate cancer, respectively.
   
   
5. Modifiable risk factors — primarily tobacco use, excess body weight and alcohol consumption — account for nearly 40% of all new cancer diagnoses.
   
   Adult cigarette smoking prevalence fell to 9.9% in 2024, marking the first time the rate dropped into single digits, though it remains above the Healthy People 2030 target of 6.1%.
   
   
6. After the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force lowered the recommended screening age for colorectal cancer to 45, screening rates increased 70% between 2019 and 2023 and early-stage diagnoses increased 50% between 2021 and 2022.
   
   After removing two task force leaders, and amid broader efforts to overhaul the panel, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appointed eight new members to the USPSTF, which has not met since March 2025.
   
   
7. Between July 1, 2025, and June 30, 2026, the FDA approved 11 new cancer therapeutics, five previously approved therapies for new cancer types, one device for treating pancreatic cancer and one at-home HPV self-collection kit.
   
   The approvals included the first therapeutic antibody for high-risk smoldering multiple myeloma, the first CAR T-cell therapy for marginal zone lymphoma and the first immune checkpoint inhibitor for ovarian cancer.
   
   
8. In its report, the AACR called on leaders to provide at least $51.303 billion for the NIH and $7.999 billion for the NCI in fiscal year 2027, ensure appropriated funds reach researchers, strengthen FDA oncology expertise and remove barriers to screening, clinical trials and survivorship care.
   

Read the full report here.

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/quality/public-health/cancer-death-rate-falls-35-in-10-years-report/