According to the 2024 edition of the American Association for Cancer Research’s Cancer Progress Report, advances in cancer research and treatment have helped decrease the age-adjusted overall cancer death rate in the United States by 33% between 1991 and 2021.Remarkable progress has been made in reducing cancer mortality over the last 30 years, which came about because of strong, concerted efforts on a number of fronts.
This includes effective tobacco control, a greater awareness and uptake of cancer screening to identify many cancers earlier at a more treatable stage, and more effective treatments that can often be delivered while minimizing toxicities. While very encouraging, the rising rates of many incident cancers also indicates that there’s much more to be done.
According to the latest Cancer Progress Report, 40% of all cancer diagnoses in the U.S. are linked to modifiable risk factors.
“These include quitting smoking, moderation of alcohol intake, maintaining a healthy diet and weight, staying physically active, and protecting the skin from UV radiation.With these things in mind, there’s a lot we can do for any individual at the risk of developing cancer — it’s really important to detect early or prevent it in the first place, so we don’t deal with advanced cancer situations.
We know that alcohol in large quantities is associated with many diseases, including cirrhosis and cancer, but we also know that the Mediterranean diet that has been well prescribed and which often includes one glass of red wine at night is actually protective against heart disease.
For those looking to lower their alcohol-use-related cancer risk, Bilchik said a person’s biological sex and metabolism may play a role in this equation, too. He noted that, in female bodies, less alcohol may lead to higher risk than in males.
Limiting alcohol to half a glass of wine a night is unlikely to be dangerous, but every person is different, the metabolism of every person is different.The Cancer Progress Report states that another obstacle that still needs to be overcome is making early detection screenings and vaccines for vaccine-preventable cancers like cervical cancer accessible to everyone.
It represents a major public health crisis. Alarmingly, reports suggest that there has been a nearly 80% increase in early-onset cancer cases worldwide since 1990. The old adage prevention is worth a pound of cure definitely holds weight in this situation.
Koprivnikar told us that, while it remains unclear why the number of early-onset cancer cases is increasing, experts do have some theories:All of the experts we interviewed agreed that, while progress is being made in the fight against cancer, more work remains to be done.I think this is very important work.
While I don’t think that this report provides all of the answers, it is certainly a step in the right direction. More importantly, if we better understand cancer risk factors, this allows us to more effectively counsel our patients about behaviors that will ultimately help to prevent cancer diagnoses.
There has been great progress against cancer and cancer-associated mortality over the last 30 years through careful scientific investigations into the causes of cancer and how the process of cancer development can be identified earlier, more accurately, and more reliably.
Nevertheless, to realize cancer research’s promise, it’s critical that we act on scientific discoveries to improve our personal lifestyle choices, medical-care practices, and public-health actions — including health-related public policies implemented at the population level.
