A growing — and aging — population, combined with advances in early detection and treatment, pushed the number of cancer survivors to new heights this year.
More than 18 million Americans with a history of cancer, two-thirds of them over the age of 65 years, were living in the U.S. as of January 1 of this year, according to Kimberly Miller, MPH, of the American Cancer Society, and colleagues.
That number, already over a million more than in 2019, is expected to grow: Over 200,000 new diagnoses each of breast cancer and lung cancer are estimated for 2022, the authors reported in a paper published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.
“As the population of cancer survivors continues to grow and age, there is an increased need for guidance for health professionals, caregivers, and patients on how to manage late and long-term effects of cancer and its treatment, maintain healthy behaviors and limit financial toxicity,” Miller said in a press release.
“In addition, the survivor population is increasingly diverse, and further resources are needed to ensure equitable access to survivorship care,” she said.
Her group had found that for most cancers, adjusted 5-year cancer survival rates were lower for Black patients compared with white patients.
In the case of urinary bladder cancer, for example, 5-year survival was just 65% for Black patients after adjustment for normal life expectancy, compared with 78% for white peers. And in the case of uterine corpus cancer, 5-year survival ranged from 63% for Black women to 84% for white women.
Read More: https://www.medpagetoday.com/hematologyoncology/othercancers/99437