America's cancer crisis in numbers: the type most likely to get you depending ... trends now
It seems not a day goes by when we don't hear of an American struck down before their time with colon cancer.
Cases of the condition in the US have risen by 15 percent over the past decade - said to be due to increasingly unhealthy lifestyles that impact the gut.
However, new data that lays bare the true toll of different cancer types on American people shows the number affected by the disease remains surprisingly low.
In fact, only eight percent of total cancer cases in the US are colorectal, according to the new extensive report on cancer diagnosis by Washington-based nonprofit USAFacts.
What's more, studies show only around four percent of all men and women in the US will develop colon cancer in their lifetime.
The most common types in younger people are breast cancer (15 percent), thyroid (15 percent), testis (eight percent) and melanoma of the skin (seven percent). The remaining 55 percent is attributed to other types of cancer, including colorectal cancer, also known as bowel cancer
According to data from the CDC, new cancer cases rose almost 36.5 percent between 2000 and 2019. However, the age-adjusted incidence rate per 100,000 people fell a small amount, from 485.8 to 459.5 - representing a 5.4 percent decrease
The revelatory new analysis lays bare the extent of the US' cancer crisis - as annual diagnoses are found to have risen by 37 percent since 2019.
The data also details how likely a person may be to develop each type of the disease, depending on a host of factors like gender, age and socioeconomic background.
USAFacts used the latest official data to reveal that four types of cancer represented half of the 1.96 million new cancer cases in 2023: breast cancer (15 percent), prostate cancer (15 percent), lung and bronchus cancer (12 percent), colorectal cancers (eight percent).
The other 50 percent was all other types. The same cancers, plus pancreatic, accounted for almost half of the more than 609,820 cancer deaths in 2023. Nearly half of the deaths were from lung and bronchus cancer (21 percent).
Colorectal cancer made up nine percent of the deaths, pancreatic cancer made up eight percent of the deaths and breast cancer seven percent. The remaining 55 percent of the deaths were due to other cancers.
Cancer rates vary by gender, and men have always been more likely to be diagnosed with cancer and die from the disease.
It is thought that heavier weight, greater inactivity, and higher alcohol consumption for men are some of the reasons for the disparity.
Four types of cancer represented half of the 1.96 million new cancer cases in 2023: breast cancer (15 percent), prostate cancer (15 percent), lung and bronchus cancer (12 percent), colorectal cancers (eight percent)
As of 2019, men were roughly 15 percent more likely to be diagnosed with cancer and 38 percent more likely to die from the disease than women.
The gap has gotten smaller since 2000, when men were 37 percent more likely to be diagnosed.
Prostate, lung, and colorectal cancers are the most types of cancer common for men, which were responsible for over half of new cancer cases and 46 percent of cancer deaths in 2023 among men.
For women, the most common cancers are estimated to be breast, lung, and colorectal cancers, which accounted for 55 percent of their new cancer cases and half of cancer deaths in 2023.
According to the American Cancer
