Cancer deaths are down, but diagnoses are up among younger women, the American Cancer Society says. (Credit: Pexels)

There’s good news, and there’s bad news.

First, the positive: The American Cancer Society’s most recent survey revealed that deaths caused by cancer declined 34% between 1999 and 2022, the most recent year of available, reliable data. 

Experts attribute the decrease in mortality to “drops in smoking, better treatment and earlier detection,” Rebecca Siegel, senior scientific director of surveillance research at the society, told NPR in a statement, adding that it’s “certainly great news.”

That said, there were also troubling trends revealed in the research, especially in regards to women’s health. In women under the age of 50, cancer incidences were 82% higher than in men within the same age window, a marked increase from the 51% difference noted in the society’s 2002 survey. Breast cancer rates in particular have risen over the years, researchers noted, as well as thyroid cancer and cervical cancer rates, particularly among women of color.

In short: “Middle-aged women now have a slightly higher risk of developing cancer than their male counterparts,” researchers wrote. “Women younger than age 50 are almost twice as likely to develop cancer than young men, a gap which has widened [over the years].” And it’s especially troubling to observe the trend in younger generations, Siegel added to NPR, “who are often the family caregivers.”

Racial disparities also persist overall, not just among those grappling with one type of cancer – and though rises in diagnoses have been observed throughout all demographic groups, women of color are disproportionately impacted, in part because of routinely receiving comparatively subpar care from medical professionals. “Persistent poverty ranks among the leading causes of death alongside smoking,” study authors noted.

While those in the field understand some of what is driving these shifts in numbers, experts call for additional research. Dr. Neil Iyengar, a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York (who was not involved in the society’s study), told CNN that “there is, and there needs to be, a greater shift in scientific research and the resources that are available for the scientific community.”

This, he adds, is how we can “better understand how we can be more effective at preventing cancer – or at least reducing the risk of cancer.”