Why are Cancers so Prevalent? Or are they? Browsing on Facebook this morning, there was a post about the seemingly high occurrence of cancer lately. Everyone seemed to know someone. Prevalence means happening often or over a large area at a particular time. I fell into the trap also of thinking that was true, thinking of the occurences in my own family and close friends. But it also set off my curiosity and got my fingers itching to do some blogging about it.
While it may seem like cancers are more prevalent perhaps it is just our means of communicating about it. I decided to do some research. And while I don’t intend to fill this page with a bunch of statistics – you can go to Google and look them up yourself – I would like to summarize some of the facts that I found. They made me feel much better.
The Cancer Institute and others gather and publish facts for the purpose of planning future needs for research, treatments and care. It looks at the facts by area within the world and also by state here in the US.
Why are Cancers More Prevalent?
While cancer was not necessarily more prevalent in these states, the states with the highest probability of occurrence are Florida, New York, Texas and California. Perhaps that is just the population of those states although Florida finished higher than California. The probability by type was listed as Breast and Prostate followed by Lung. It was encouraging to see a lower rate for Colon, Uterine and Skin so the preventatives may be working.
The highest mortality rate still falls on Lung cancer which has been increasing since the 1980s. It did seem to peak between 2000-2010 and is showing now a decline. Happy news.
Mortality
The statistics that I found most reassuring were the probability of developing the various types of cancer. While still a still high percentage, Breast cancer is listed at 12.4%. Followed by Prostate at 11.6%, Lung 6% and Colon at 4.3%. But MOST reassuring was the statistic for survival among all of them being at 66% for at least 5 years.
Some other interesting information was that the cancer mortality rate was higher for men than women. Could that mean that you men are still playing cavemen and not getting early exams and testing? Further, the mortality rate was highest with African/American men. The lowest mortality rate went to Asian/Pacific women.
Although the rate of Lung cancer from smoking is continuing to decline, the population is continuing to age and cancer rates increase with age. So if you are still smoking, it is time to stop.
Also, they mentioned that another risk factor – obesity – is also increasing. So if you fall into this category perhaps now is a good time to take a look at our Magic Coffee. Go here for more information on that.
One last thing that was reported was COST, which was not encouraging. It was estimated that the cost of treatments would continue to rise with the increased use of newer more expensive methods of treatment. The cost for 2017 was stated at $147.3 billion. That cost is likely to continue to rise as the population continues to age.
So one last thought. Why are Cancers more Prevalent? They are not. Statistics prove that percentage-wise it is decreasing, and survival is increasing. So keep up with your tests and screenings. Stop smoking. Lose weight. Use sunscreen. Improve your diet.
