Overall death rates from cancer have seen a consistent decline among both men and women from 2001 through 2022. The 2024 Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer indicates that this trend continued even during the initial two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. For men, cancer incidence decreased from 2001 up to 2013 and then stabilized. For women, however, there was a slight annual increase in cancer incidence from 2003 through 2021, with a dip in 2020.
Researchers attribute these overall reductions in cancer deaths mainly to the decreased incidence and death rates of lung cancer and other smoking-related cancers. Both men and women saw declines in new diagnoses and deaths from lung cancer over the past two decades. However, obesity-related cancers such as those of the breast, uterus, colon, rectum, pancreas, kidney, and liver, have seen an increase in incidence.
The report notes a gradual increase in breast cancer diagnoses over the study period, but the corresponding death rates have decreased. For children, cancer death rates declined steadily, while they initially declined for adolescents and young adults, with a recent stabilization. From 2018 to 2022, cancer deaths declined across all major racial and ethnic groups. Between 2017 and 2021, cancer incidence among men remained stable across major racial and ethnic groups, but increased among women. Incidence rates were highest among non-Hispanic Black men and American Indian and Alaska Native women.
The report also analyzed the COVID-19 pandemic's impact, revealing a sharp decline in cancer incidence in 2020 due to health care disruptions, though rates returned to pre-pandemic levels by 2021. These findings underscore the need for consistent health care access during public health emergencies to ensure timely cancer diagnoses.
The Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer is a joint effort by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the American Cancer Society (ACS), and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR). It provides annual updates on cancer trends in the United States, based on data from population-based cancer registries and the National Vital Statistics System.
The full report is available in Cancer as “Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, Featuring State-Level Statistics after the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic,” published on April 21, 2025.
For more detailed information about the involved organizations and their roles in cancer research and public health, visit their respective websites.
