Cancer statistics, 2016.
Level 3 - non-randomized controlled study
National population-based longitudinal registry and surveillance trend analysis
PubMed 26742998 · doi:10.3322/caac.21332
What was done
The American Cancer Society compiled US cancer incidence, mortality, and survival data to project cases and deaths for 2016 and evaluate trends. Incidence records were collected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program, the CDC National Program of Cancer Registries, and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries. Mortality records were obtained from the National Center for Health Statistics.
What was found
In 2016, 1,685,210 new cancer cases and 595,690 cancer deaths were projected in the US. From 2009 to 2012, overall cancer incidence was stable in women and declined by 3.1% per year in men, largely reflecting drops in prostate cancer diagnoses. Overall cancer mortality dropped by 23% from 1991 through 2012, averting over 1.7 million deaths. However, death rates increased for cancers of the liver, pancreas, and uterine corpus. Cancer became the leading cause of death in 21 states, and brain cancer surpassed leukemia as the leading cause of cancer death among people aged 0 to 19 years.
Why it matters
This report establishes national benchmark estimates for US cancer burden, showing substantial long-term declines in overall cancer mortality alongside emerging increases in specific cancer types.
Limits
The abstract reports model-projected 2016 estimates and aggregate registry surveillance rather than primary experimental data, and total sample size is not quantified. It does not provide confidence intervals or subpopulation stratifications.
Cited by
- context Brain cancer is the number one cause of disease-related death in children.