I had the privilege of speaking on CBS Chicago as an American Cancer Society spokesperson to discuss the latest cancer statistics for 2025.
The report revealed both significant progress and critical areas of concern:
Key Highlights
✅ Progress: Cancer death rates have declined by 34% since 1991, averting approximately 4.5 million deaths. This progress is due to advancements in early detection, treatments, and reductions in smoking.
⚠️ Challenges Remain:
• Healthcare inequities: Native Americans experience 2-3 X higher mortality rates for kidney, liver, stomach, and cervical cancers compared to White Americans. Similarly, Black Americans face twice the mortality rates for prostate, stomach, and uterine cancers.
• Pancreatic cancer: Despite substantial research efforts, the 5-year survival rate for most pancreatic cancer patients remains just 8%.
• Cancer in women: Incidence is rising in women and surpassing men in certain age groups. Rates among younger women (<50 years) are now 82% higher than in men of the same age group.
• Smoking trends: Women are quitting smoking at slower rates than men, contributing to slower declines in lung cancer rates among women.
Addressing Women’s Cancer Risks
One contributing factor to this ⬆️ in women’s cancer is the ⬆️ in breast cancer cases among younger women. Some of this may be linked to missed mammograms during the pandemic, when many avoided routine healthcare visits. Early detection remains one of the most powerful tools to improve survival rates, highlighting the importance of regular screenings and access to care.
How We Can Reduce Cancer Risk and Address Disparities
We need a multifaceted approach:
• Expand access to screenings: Ensure all communities have access to mammograms, colonoscopies, pap smears, and other lifesaving tests.
• Promote prevention: Vaccines like the HPV vaccine can prevent cervical cancer.
• Encourage healthy lifestyle changes: A diet rich in fresh foods, vegetables, and less red/processed meat, along with avoiding alcohol and quitting smoking, can significantly lower cancer risks.
• Focus on equity: Addressing systemic barriers and improving healthcare access in underserved communities is critical to reducing inequities in outcomes.
Looking Ahead
While the progress we’ve made is encouraging, we cannot ignore the disparities that persist or the rising challenges in certain cancers. By combining evidence-based prevention strategies, advancing research, and improving access to care, we can continue to make meaningful strides.
I’m proud to work with the American Cancer Society UICC and other organizations that are dedicated to these efforts. Let’s continue this important work together.
