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Siegel 2021: Cancer statistics, 2021

The American Cancer Society's annual US report for 2021 projected about 1.9 million new cancer cases and recorded a cancer death rate 31% below its 1991 peak, with the largest single-year drop yet recorded, driven by lung cancer.

Siegel and colleagues projected 1,898,160 new cancer cases and 608,570 cancer deaths in the United States for 2021. The cancer death rate had fallen 31% from its 1991 peak to 2018, which the authors translated into about 3.2 million fewer cancer deaths than if rates had stayed at the peak. The decline from 2017 to 2018 was 2.4%, the largest single-year drop recorded, driven by accelerating falls in lung cancer mortality attributed to reduced smoking and to new treatments, and the report noted that the pandemic's effect on diagnoses would only appear in later data.

Observational studyHas not changed practice yet

Authors

Siegel RL, Miller KD, Fuchs HE, Jemal A.

Published

CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 2021

Full text

doi:10.3322/caac.21654

Findings

Projected 1,898,160 new cancer cases and 608,570 cancer deaths in the United States in 2021.
Cancer death rate down 31% from 1991 to 2018, about 3.2 million deaths averted.
A 2.4% fall in the death rate from 2017 to 2018, the largest single-year drop recorded, driven by lung cancer.

What it means

This edition documented the fastest ever annual fall in US cancer mortality and attributed it in part to targeted therapy and immunotherapy for lung cancer, one of the clearest links between new drugs and national statistics.

Caveats