The American Cancer Society has excellent statistics showing the overall cancer death rate has decreased. Among males, age-adjusted cancer deaths per 100,000 population decreased from 210.9 in 2009 to 172.9 in 2019. Among females, age-adjusted cancer deaths per 100,000 population decreased from 147.4 in 2009 to 134.0 in 2016, and then decreased at a faster rate to 126.2 in 2019. This decrease is far better than an increase, but we have tremendous opportunity to continue this improvement.

 Cancer is a group of diseases characterized by uncontrollable growth of abnormal cells which can overwhelm the body’s normal defenses. Cancer is thought to be caused by external factors such as smoking, obesity, heavy alcohol intake, infections and many chemicals superimposed on internal factors like genetic mutations, immunological changes, hormonal variations, or alterations in metabolism.

About 41% of Americans will develop some form of cancer in their lifetime. This high number includes common skin cancers which, generally, are not as dangerous as all other forms of cancer. One fifth of Americans will die of cancer which is typically second only to heart disease as a cause of death. We still have opportunity to improve until we can decrease the chances of dying of all diseases.

Men have declining rates of death from lung, prostate, and colorectal cancer. Women have lower death rates from breast and colorectal cancer, presumably due to better early detection and better treatment. Use of tobacco by men has decreased since the connection of lung cancer and tobacco was confirmed by epidemiologist Dr. Morton Levin in 1950 at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, NY. I had the honor and privilege to work with Dr. Levin decades later, when I was a student at a National Science Foundation summer research program at Roswell Park, which focused on biostatistics.

 The good news, if there is ever any good news with cancer, is that lung cancer in women is starting to decline as more and more women kick the smoking habit. Smoking cessation and obesity control are the two best ways to continue to decrease the incidence of cancer for everyone.

“A substantial proportion of cancers could be prevented, including all cancers caused by tobacco use and other unhealthy behaviors. Excluding non-melanoma skin cancer, at least 42% of newly diagnosed cancers in the US—about 805,600 cases in 2022—are potentially avoidable, including the 19% of cancers caused by smoking and at least 18% caused by a combination of excess body weight, alcohol consumption, poor nutrition, and physical inactivity,” according to the American Cancer Society.

Prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women are still the second most common types of the disease. Tragically, breast cancer tends to occur in younger women whereas prostate cancer in elderly men can be somewhat less noxious and progressive. Both can be detected early and treated well in multiple ways.

Colon and rectal cancers are the next most common category. These tumors can also be easily detected by appropriate surveillance, including a colonoscopy starting at age fifty and periodically thereafter depending on risk factors.

Cancer also discriminates against those without insurance or without easy access to medical care. We still have many people who are not being screened due to lack of resources, fear, ignorance, denial, and just laziness. These are not legitimate reasons to play the cancer lottery. You may be lucky and never have any problems; if you do, however, you are far better off knowing early, instead of too late.

Better still: avoid the known causes of cancer—smoking, obesity, excess alcohol, preventable infectious diseases, and lack of education about the early warning signs. Male smokers have twenty-three times greater risk of getting lung cancer than non-smokers; so, don’t start smoking—or if you do, quit!

You control your health and your risk to a very great extent. Take care of yourself. It is always better to prevent rather than treat.