"It is encouraging to see a continued decline in death rates for many of the common cancers," said Karen Hacker, MD, MPH, Director of CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. "To dismantle existing health disparities and give everyone the opportunity to be as healthy as possible, we must continue to find innovative ways to reach people across the cancer care continuum--from screening and early detection to treatment and support for survivors."

However, increases in cancer incidence and death rates or deceleration of previous declining trends for some other cancers such as colorectal and female breast cancers are likely due to risk factors such as obesity.


"The continued decline in cancer death rates should be gratifying to the cancer research community, as evidence that scientific advances over several decades are making a real difference in outcomes at the population level," said Norman E. "Ned" Sharpless, MD, Director of the National Cancer Institute, of the National Institutes of Health. "I believe we could achieve even further improvements if we address obesity, which has the potential to overtake tobacco use to become the leading modifiable factor associated with cancer."

The authors report that cancer death rates continued to decrease among children (aged <15 years) and AYAs (aged 15-39 years) despite an increase in incidence rates from 2001 to 2017. Overall cancer incidence rates in children and AYA increased in all racial/ethnic groups except American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) children where rates remained stable. The most common cancer among AYA was female breast cancer.

"When evaluating health disparities, it is critical to acknowledge the social factors that influence the health of the communities and access to health care," said Betsy A. Kohler, MPH, NAACCR Executive Director. "Social and economic indicators, particularly based on small area assessments, are increasingly important to understanding the burden of cancer."

Other key findings include:

Overall cancer incidence rates were higher among men than women in every racial and ethnic group, except Asian/Pacific Islander population, where the rates were similar.
Overall cancer incidence rates were slightly lower among Black people than White people.
In contrast, overall cancer death rates were higher among Black people than White people.
Incidence rates of liver cancer were previously increasing, but data show rates have stabilized among both men and women.

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