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Siegel 2016: Cancer statistics, 2016

The American Cancer Society's annual US report for 2016 projected about 1.69 million new cancer cases and recorded a cancer death rate 23% below its 1991 peak, with the report noting that cancer had overtaken heart disease as the leading cause of death in many US states.

Siegel and colleagues projected 1,685,210 new cancer cases and 595,690 cancer deaths in the United States for 2016. The cancer death rate had fallen 23% from its 1991 peak to 2012, which the authors translated into about 1.7 million fewer cancer deaths than if rates had stayed at the peak. The report noted that cancer had become the leading cause of death in 21 states and among Hispanic and Asian Americans, and it documented persistent racial gaps in mortality.

Observational studyHas not changed practice yet

Authors

Siegel RL, Miller KD, Jemal A.

Published

CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 2016

Full text

doi:10.3322/caac.21332

Findings

Projected 1,685,210 new cancer cases and 595,690 cancer deaths in the United States in 2016.
Cancer death rate down 23% from 1991 to 2012, about 1.7 million deaths averted.
Cancer was the leading cause of death in 21 states and among Hispanic and Asian American populations.

What it means

This edition is cited for the shift of cancer to the leading cause of death in a large part of the United States as heart disease mortality fell faster.

Caveats