CDC Reports More Than 1.7 Million New Cancer Cases in 2019
More than 1.7 million new invasive cancer cases were reported in the United States in 2019, according to the U.S. Cancer Statistics (https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/uscs/about/data-briefs/no29-USCS-highlights-2019-incidence.htm) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated in June 2022.
Of the new cancer cases recorded, 863,830 occurred in females and 888,905 in males, according to CDC (https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/uscs/about/data-briefs/no29-USCS-highlights-2019-incidence.htm). The numbers indicate an overall incident rate of 439 per 100,000 standard population.
Results were further broken-down by comparison of age and race. For most types of cancers, increased age was the most important risk factor (https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/uscs/about/data-briefs/no29-USCS-highlights-2019-incidence.htm), with 58% of the cancers found in adults aged 65 and older. Among racial and ethnic groups, non-Hispanic and White patients had the highest (https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/uscs/about/data-briefs/no29-USCS-highlights-2019-incidence.htm) percentage of cancer diagnoses, at 31% each in people aged 65–74.
“Although cancer affects people of all ages, races, ethnicities, and sexes, it does not affect all groups equally,” CDC said (https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/uscs/about/data-briefs/no29-USCS-highlights-2019-incidence.htm). “Differences in genetics, healthy choices, environmental exposures, and other factors can lead to differences in risk among groups of people.”
The CDC statistics combined data from the National Program of Cancer Registries (https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/npcr/index.htm) and the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (https://seer.cancer.gov/).
As real-world cancer trends emerge among communities, oncology nurses must respond (https://www.ons.org/make-difference/ons-center-advocacy-and-health-policy/position-statements/oncology-nursing-specialty) with the latest patient education, evidence-based practice, and care coordination. Learn more about the health policy coalitions (https://www.ons.org/make-a-difference/advocacy-policy/coalitions) ONS engages with to promote health policy changes, and join us in advocating for quality cancer care.