ACS Annual Report Shows Cancer Incidence Rates Are Rising in Select Populations

The American Cancer Society (ACS) released its annual report, Cancer Statistics, for 2025, which most notably revealed incidence rates are increasing for many cancer types particularly among women and younger adults, which the ACS said shows shifting of the burden of disease.1

Findings from the report revealed that the cancer mortality rate decreased by 34% from 1991 to 2022 in the US, which averted approximately 4.5 million deaths. The ACS projects that in 2025 there will be an estimated 2,041,910 new cancer diagnoses and 618,120 cancer deaths in the US. Progress in cancer treatment is essential as cancer is the second leading cause of death in the US and the leading cause among people younger than 85 years old.2

“Continued reductions in cancer mortality because of drops in smoking, better treatment, and earlier detection is certainly great news. However, this progress is tempered by rising incidence in young and middle-aged women, who are often the family caregivers, and a shifting cancer burden from men to women, harkening back to the early 1900s when cancer was more common in women,” Rebecca L. Siegel, MPH, lead author of the report and senior scientific director of surveillance research at the ACS, said in a news release.1

Incidence Rates of Certain Cancers Climb

The report detailed that the incidence rate of select common cancers are rising; rates of breast, prostate, melanoma, liver, uterine corpus, pancreas, and oral cancers associated with the human papillomavirus are increasing. Prostate cancer saw the steepest increase at 3% per year from 2014 to 2021. Furthermore, the rate of new diagnoses of colorectal cancer in men and women younger than 65 years of age and cervical cancer in women aged 30 to 44 years has increased.

Although overall cancer incidence has generally declined in men, it has risen in women which has narrowed the male‐to‐female rate ratio (RR) from a peak of 1.6 (95% CI, 1.57-1.61) in 1992 to 1.1 (95% CI, 1.12-1.12) in 2021.2 Notably, rates in females (832.5 per 100,000) aged 50 to 64 years old have surpassed those in men (830.6 per 100,000). Additionally, women less than 50 years old (141.1 per 100,000) have an 82% higher incidence rate than male counterparts (77.4 per 100,000), which is increased from 51% reported in 2002.

Further, in 2021 the incidence of lung cancer in women (15.7 per 100,000) surpassed that in men (15.4 per 100,000) among those less than 65 years old (RR, 0.98, P = .03). Incidence and mortality rates are increasing for pancreatic cancer as well, according to the report.1

Findings also showed that the probability of developing invasive cancer in any site from 2018 to 2019 and 2021 in the US was 3.4 in men and 5.9 in women from the age of birth to 49 years old.3 However, rates were higher in men than women in other age groups: 50 to 64 (11.3; 10.8, respectively), 65 to 84 (31.3; 24.2), 85 and older (18.7; 14.1), and from birth to death (39.9; 39.0).

Striking Disparities Remain Regarding Cancer Mortality

The report highlighted that Black people are twice as likely to die of prostate, stomach, and uterine corpus cancers compared with White people; they are also 50% more likely to die from cervical cancer.1

Additionally, cancer mortality is 2 to 3 times higher for kidney, liver, stomach, and cervical cancers in those who are Native American compared with those who are White. Additionally, Native American people have the highest cancer mortality rate.2 Among all sites, mortality rates from 2018 to 2022 were as follows per 100,000 people: all races and ethnicities (146.0), White (151.3), Black (168.6), American Indian/Alaska Native (178.1), Asian American/Pacific Islander (93.0), and Hispanic/Latino (106.8) populations.

The report added that “Despite overall declines in cancer mortality, death rates are increasing for cancers of the oral cavity, pancreas, uterine corpus, and liver (female).”1

“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. Screening programs are a critical component of early detection, and expanding access to these services will save countless lives,” Wayne A. I. Frederick, MD, MBA, interim chief executive officer of the ACS and the ACS Cancer Action Network, said in the news release. “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.”

Data from the report were collected from central cancer registries through 2021 and mortality data were collected from the National Center for Health Statistics through 2022.2 The ACS used 2-step statistical modeling to estimate contemporary cancer burden as the most recent year for which incidence and mortality data are available is approximately 2 to 3 years behind the current year; this is due to time required for data collection, compilation, quality control, and dissemination.

References

1. ACS annual report: Cancer mortality continues to drop despite rising incidence in women; rates of new diagnoses under 65 higher in women than men. New release. American Cancer Society. January 16, 2025. Accessed January 20, 2025. https://pressroom.cancer.org/2025CancerFactsandFigures
2. Siegel RL, Kratzer TB, Giaquinto AN, Sung H, Jemal A. Cancer statistics, 2025. CA Cancer J Clin. Published online January 16, 2025. doi:10.3322/caac.21871
3. Cancer facts & figures 2025. American Cancer Society. January 16, 2025. Accessed January 20, 2025. https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/cancer-org/research/cancer-facts-and-statistics/annual-cancer-facts-and-figures/2025/2025-cancer-facts-and-figures-acs.pdf