Cancer survival rates increasing

Sunday is National Cancer Survivors Day and a new report shows the number of people surviving cancer is rising in the U.S. 

The American Cancer Society says more people are surviving cancer, and a new study estimates there are 18.6 million people in the U.S. living with a history of cancer as of Jan 1. By the year 2035, the number of survivors is expected to exceed 22 million.

“There was not that long ago that many people thought of cancer as a death sentence,” Doctor Arif Kamal said.

Kamal says since 1991, cancer death rates have gone down by about 34%. He says the rise in the number of survivors is due to both improved cancer screenings and advances in treatments.

“As an oncologist when I first started, there might have been one or two treatments for things like lung cancer, melanoma,” Kamal said. “Now, we’re seeing nearly dozens of treatments that are not only more precise and tailored, but also have less side effects and more tolerable.”

But the report also highlights disparity, as, for example, uninsured people diagnosed with Stage 1 colorectal cancer, have lower five-year survival rates than those who are privately insured with Stage 2 disease.

There are also racial differences in treatment across disease stages. In 2021, black patients with Stage 1 and Stage 2 lung cancer or Stage 1 rectal cancer were less likely to undergo surgery than their white counterparts.

“It’s really important we’re paying attention to these issues of access because we realize that high-quality care can also mean that people have to go to specific places to get it,” Kamal said.