THE HILL – A record 2 million new cancer cases are projected to occur in the U.S. in 2024, with incidences of six out of the top 10 cancers expected to rise, according to new projections from the American Cancer Society (ACS).
ACS released its “Cancer statistics, 2024” report last week in which it projected 2,001,140 new cancer cases would occur in the U.S. in 2024 along with 611,720 cancer deaths.
While cancer mortality continued to trend downward in 2021 — the most recent year from which data can be sourced — ACS said that progress was threatened by gains in some of the top 10 cancers.
In 2023, the ACS estimated that 1,958,310 new cancer cases and 609,820 cancer deaths would occur. The actual figures are yet to be finalized.
According to Ahmedin Jemal, ACS senior vice president of surveillance and health equity science, a growing, aging population plays a large part in the trends.
“Colon cancer has become the leading cause of cancer death among young men and the second-leading cause of cancer death for young women.”
“Cancer more frequently occurs in the older age group, and the U.S. population is aging. Life expectancy continues to increase,” Jemal said.
One of the key estimates from the report, however, indicated that the proportion of people over the age of 65 getting cancer in 2024 would actually decrease, with the proportion of adults aged between 50 and 64 who are diagnosed with cancer expected to increase from 25 to 30 percent.
The report indicated this shift in anticipated demographics is due to a decrease in cancer incidences among older adults — particularly prostate and smoking-related cancers among men — and not a rise in cancers among middle-aged adults.
“This is not an increased incidence rate, just only the distribution of cases by age,” Jemal explained.
Lung cancer rates are also decreasing among seniors, further contributing to this group’s shrinking proportion of cases.
But cancer cases are rising among people under 50 …
