Latest national statistics reflect shift in cancer burden toward women and young people

Every year, the American Cancer Society (ACS) releases their Cancer Facts & Figures report, highlighting current trends in cancer diagnosis, burden (who is most likely to get a cancer diagnosis) and care. The 2025 report, released in January, shows that the cancer mortality rate in the United States has declined by 34% over the last 30 years, sparing about 4.5 million lives that could have been lost to cancer if the death rate had remained at its peak. This progress is mostly because of steady declines in the four most common types of cancer—breast, colorectal, lung, and prostate—and made possible by significant advances in smoking cessation, early cancer detection and treatment.

The progress is not equally distributed across cancer types and patient populations. While the 5-year relative survival rate for most cancers have improved in the last 40 years, there are exceptions. Pancreatic cancer incidence and mortality rates are increasing, and despite efforts to improve treatment, the five-year survival rate for the most common pancreatic cancer is only 8%. Uterine (endometrial) cancer and cervical cancer have continued to decline since the 1970s. The report also showed that alarming racial inequalities in cancer mortality persist, with American Indian and Alaska Native and Black people experiencing death rates two times higher than white people for many largely preventable cancers.

Who is impacted most?

The most striking key finding from the report shows what cancer care teams at UChicago Medicine are seeing in practice every day: the burden of disease is shifting toward women and young people, with those two groups making up a larger portion of new diagnoses every year.

The ACS report found that middle-aged women now have a slightly higher risk of developing cancer than their male counterparts. This pattern includes lung cancer, which is now higher in women than in men among people younger than 65 years.

Meanwhile, women younger than 50 are almost twice as likely to develop cancer than young men, a gap which has widened since the early 2000s. Rates of cervical cancer in women between ages 30 and 44 have also increased.

“This statistic is particularly troubling because the majority of cervical cancers are caused by the human papillomavirus virus (HPV) and we have a cancer vaccine that can prevent over 90% of cervical cancer and other HPV related cancers,” said Nita K. Lee, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Associate Director for Community Outreach and Engagement at the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center. “This rise reflects important missed opportunities for prevention through HPV vaccination and screening and early detection with pap smears and HPV testing.”

Young men and women are increasingly susceptible to developing and dying from colorectal cancer. Between 2012 and 2021, incidence rates for colorectal cancer in people younger than 50 have risen by 2.4% per year. Deaths from colorectal cancer have increased for individuals younger than 55 have increased by about 1% per year since the mid-2000s.

“What’s alarming about this upward trend is it’s happening in people who are otherwise healthy and don’t carry the normal risk factors and we don’t know what’s causing it. The trend appears to be affecting people born after 1960 which has led us and others to examine factors that have increased since that time such as obesity, alcohol use, diet and exposures like antibiotics or chemicals among others,” said Sonia Kupfer, MD, director of UChicago Medicine’s Gastrointestinal Cancer Risk and Prevention Clinic.

As a result, national organizations have lowered the recommended age to begin colorectal cancer screening to 45 from 50. People with family history of colorectal cancer should discuss earlier screening with their doctors.

A population with unique needs

The rising rates of cancer among young people and especially women are troubling on many fronts.

“Research shows children, adolescents, and young adults face unique challenges when diagnosed with cancer, such as financial toxicity, disruptions to education and career development, and inadequate survivorship care,” said UChicago Medicine pediatric hematologist and oncologist Lindsay Schwartz, MD, MS.

“As healthcare providers, we need to unify efforts across research, clinical care and policy to ensure that young people with cancer receive comprehensive, long-term support beyond diagnosis and cure,” she said.

There are also long-term health implications for young people who have received a cancer diagnosis or who are in remission, as cancer becomes a chronic health condition for those in long-term remission.

“Cancer in young people is more than a medical diagnosis — it becomes a lifelong journey,” Schwartz said, adding that childhood, adolescent and young adult-aged survivors of cancer face a heightened risk of secondary cancers, chronic health conditions like cardiovascular disease, and infertility compared to their peers with no cancer history.

These risks are managed by cancer experts, such as those in the UChicago Medicine Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Oncology Program, or by teams of experts in the various areas of healthcare need. This is an effective and holistic way to address the myriad needs of AYA cancer patients but also highlights the many dimensions of health that cancer is likely to impact over a person’s lifespan.

Cancer prevention strategies

While the rise in cases and unequal distribution of future diagnoses is disheartening, experts remind patients and community members that there are actionable steps each person can take to help reduce their risk of a cancer diagnosis.

According to the ACS report, approximately 40% of new cancer diagnoses are potentially avoidable “including the 19% of cancers caused by cigarette smoking, 8% caused by excess body weight, and 5% caused by alcohol consumption.” It is important to remember that risk does not equal cause; in other words, mitigating risk does not guarantee a person will not be diagnosed with cancer, and engaging with risky substances or behaviors does not mean a person is to blame for a cancer diagnosis.

Those looking for ways to minimize their risk have some opportunities to do so:

• Quit smoking, or do not begin if you have never smoked.
• Incorporate more movement and exercise into your daily routine
• Try to eat more fruits and vegetables, and work with your healthcare team to make sure you have enough fiber and calcium in your diet.
• Try to eat fewer processed meats.
• Limit alcohol consumption.
• Stay up-to-date on vaccinations, especially for those that help prevent cancers caused by infections, such as the HPV vaccine.

Another strategy for mitigating future risk of cancer is through genetic testing, which can show specific mutations or changes to genes that make a person more likely to get certain kinds of cancers. The Cancer Risk & Prevention Clinic has a whole team of experts who can order and interpret these results, and can provide recommendations for screening or preventive treatment if genetic risks are found.

Regardless, both patients and providers should take note of potential symptoms of cancer and schedule tests and follow-up appointments when warranted.

The road ahead

The 2025 ACS Cancer Facts & Figures report is a sobering reminder of both how far the field of cancer care has come, and how far it still has to go.

Rebecca Siegel, lead author of the report, stated in a press release that continued reductions in cancer mortality because of drops in smoking, better treatment, and earlier detection is “certainly great news.”

She added, “However, this progress is tempered by rising incidence in young and middle-aged women, who are often the family caregivers.”