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Study predicts growing cancer rates in the U.S. over the next 20 years

Updated: 2009-05-05 22:23:15 CST Category: Cancer Detection and Tumor Markers

by Laurent Castellucci

The number of new cancer cases diagnosed annually in the U.S. over the next 20 years will increase from 1.6 million to 2.3 million a year in 2030, according to research from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Published in Journal of Clinical Oncology, the study predicts the two most noticeable spikes will be among adults aged 65 or older, who will see a 67 percent increase, and non-whites, among whom the rate is expected to double, from 330,000 to 660,000.

Unless specific prevention and/or treatment strategies are discovered, cancer death rates also will increase dramatically, said Dr Ben Smith, adjunct assistant professor in M. D. Anderson's Department of Radiation Oncology, who is currently on active military duty and is stationed at Lackland Air Force Base.

Smith and his team found that the leading cancer sites are expected to remain constant: breast, prostate, colon and lung.

Given the implications of the study, the role of screening and prevention becomes all the more vital and should be strongly encouraged, said Smith. Survival rates for most cancers improve when caught early by cancer testing, and active cancer detection, monitoring and active intervention is recommended by the authors.

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