Annual Report to the Nation
We are pleased to announce the release of the latest Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer. The Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer represents a collaborative effort from senior researchers at ACS, CDC, NAACCR, and NCI to produce current and comprehensive trends in cancer incidence and mortality. Our 24th Report was led by NCI and is currently available in the journal Cancer as open access.
The purpose of this report is to produce the most up-to-date and comprehensive trends in cancer incidence and mortality. Each year we also focus on a special topic. This year we produced two reports: Part I focuses on national statistics, available now, and Part II focuses on an early look at covid impacts at cancer diagnosis, which will be available early next year.
The Annual Report to the Nation is a collaborative endeavor by leaders in the cancer surveillance field. Each year representatives from the American Cancer Society, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Cancer Institute, National Center for Health Statistics, NAACCR, and invited scientists analyze the latest cancer rates from NAACCR and other sources to report on the most recent cancer trends in the US. A special focus on a cancer of interest is selected annually for in-depth analysis. These reports are published in scientific journals.
ANNUAL REPORT TO THE NATION PART TWO:
The Second Part of our most recent ARN, Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, part 2: Early assessment of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on cancer diagnosis, is now published. This paper focuses on early estimate of the impact of COVID-19 on the counts of certain cancers, including female breast, colorectal, lung, prostate, pancreas and thyroid. The paper presents the ratio of expected versus observed cases in year 2020 by sex, race and the month of diagnosis.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM ARN PART II:
- New diagnoses of six major cancer types in the United States fell abruptly in early 2020, coinciding with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to findings from Part 2 of the latest Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer.
- Pathology reports also declined sharply in early 2020, suggesting that fewer cancer screenings and other cancer-related procedures were being performed during that time.
- Taken together, the findings suggest that many cancers were not being diagnosed in a timely manner during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic, possibly due to interruptions in medical care.
ANNUAL REPORT TO THE NATION PART ONE:
Paper titled “Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer” It is a 2-part report; Part I is focused on cancer incidence and mortality patterns in the United States. The report shows death rates continue to decline overall and for many cancer types, with the decline accelerated for lung cancer and melanoma during the most recent period. For several other major cancers, however, death rates continue to increase or previous declines in rates have slowed or ceased. Also, overall incidence rates continue to increase among females, children, and adolescents and young adults. These findings inform efforts related to prevention, early detection, and treatment and for broad and equitable implementation of effective interventions, especially among under-resourced populations.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM ARN Part I:
- Overall cancer death rates continued downward trend; modest improvements were seen in survival for pancreatic cancer.
- Decreases in overall cancer death rates were seen in men, women, children, and adolescents and young adults (AYAs) in all major racial and ethnic groups from 2015 to 2019.
- Overall cancer incidence rates remained stable among men and children from 2014 to 2018 and increased for women and AYAs.
- This year’s report highlights longer-term trends in pancreatic cancer, as well as racial and ethnic disparities in incidence and death rates for many individual cancer sites.
- From 2001 to 2018, incidence rates of pancreatic cancer increased by 1% per year among both men and women, and from 2001-2019 death rates increased by 0.2% per year for both sexes. The report also details trends by pancreatic cancer subtypes.
- All of the findings in this report are based on data from before the COVID-19 pandemic.
