Article
CDC Report Underscores Impact of Early Diagnosis and Innovation on Cancer Survival
Two out of three people with metastatic disease survive 5 years or more, the report shows. The authors hope the data can help researchers develop better cancer control programs.
Two out of 3 Americans with invasive cancer—the kind that has spread to nearby healthy tissue—are living 5 years or more after diagnosis, according to a new report from the CDC.
Data have shown that early detection and innovation in cancer treatment have increased the number of cancer survivors over the last several years, and the new report, published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, shows that even patients with invasive cancer have encouraging survival rates.
To reach these numbers, CDC researchers looked at the number of cancer cases reported to U.S. cancer registries in 2011, the year of the most recently available data. That year saw 1,532,066 invasive cancer cases, or 451 cases per 100,000 people.
The CDC reports that the most common cancer sites were prostate, breast, lung, and colon, and rectum. The 5-year survival rates for those cancers came out to 97% for prostate cancer, 88% for breast cancer, 63% for colorectal cancer and 18% for lung cancer. While the rates were relatively even among men and women, racial disparities existed; 65% of white people had a 5-year relative survival rate, and 60% of black people had the same.
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