Statistics On Cancer In The United States

AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CLINICAL ONCOLOGY
Thirty-third Annual Meeting May 17 - 20, 1997

STATISTICS ON CANCER IN THE UNITED STATES

The last 25 years of investment in cancer research has resulted in significant advances in cancer prevention and treatment, and encouraging declines in cancer mortality rates. Yet cancer remains the second leading cause of death in the United States, behind heart disease.

INCIDENCE

It is estimated that nearly 1.4 million new cancer cases will be diagnosed this year and approximately 560,000 people will die from the disease.

LEADING CANCER TYPES NUMBER OF NEW CASES PERCENTAGE OF NEW CASES Prostate 334,500 24.2 Breast 181,600 13.1 Lung 178,100 12.9 Colon & Rectum 131,200 9.5 Non-Hodgkinís Lymphoma 53,600 3.9 Other 503,400 36.4

SURVIVAL

Today, 4 in 10 people with cancer will live at least five years after diagnosis, up from the 1 in 3 survival rate in the 1960s. This translates into approximately 91,000 more survivors each year.

LEADING CANCER TYPES FIVE YEAR SURVIVAL RATE (%) All Stages Local Regional Metastasized Prostate 87 99 93 30 Breast 84 97 76 20 Lung 14 48 18 2 Colon & Rectum 61 91 63 7 Non-Hodgkinís Lymphoma 51 N/A N/A N/A

MORTALITY

U.S. cancer mortality rates have dropped annually from a 1990 high of approximately 135 deaths per year per 100,000 people to 130.8 per 100,000 in 1995.

LEADING CANCER TYPES ESTIMATED NUMBER OF DEATHS PERCENTAGE OF DEATHS Lung 160,400 28.6 Colon & Rectum 54,900 9.8 Breast 44,190 7.9 Prostate 41,800 7.5 Non-Hodgkinís Lymphoma 23,800 4.3 Other 234,910 41.9

CANCER GENETICS

The identification of specific genes linked to various types of cancer has led to promising new areas of cancer research. Below is a list of the susceptibility genes that have been identified to date, the type of cancer associated with their mutation, and the year they were identified.

GENE TYPE OF CANCER YEAR IDENTIFIED p53 Breast cancer, soft-tissue sarcomas, bone cancer, brain tumors, leukemia, adrenocortial carcinoma 1980 RB1 Childhood tumors of eye 1986 WT1 Childhood kidney tumors 1990 NF1 Nerve tumors 1990 APC Colorectal cancer 1991 NF2 Acoustic nerve and brain tumors 1993 VHL Benign and malignant tumors in kidney, retina, central nervous system, pancreas, adrenal gland 1993 MTS-1/p16 Malignant melanoma, pancreatic cancer 1993 RET Multiple endocrine neoplasia; thyroid and adrenal cancer 1993 MSH-2 & MLH-1 Colorectal cancer, hereditary non-polyposis colon cancer (HNPCC) 1993 & 1994 BRCA1 Breast and Ovarian cancer 1994 CDK4 Melanoma 1995 BRCA2 Breast Cancer 1995

LEADING CAUSES OF DEATH IN THE UNITED STATES

Top ten leading causes of death in the United States in 1995 were:

RANK CAUSE PERCENT # OF DEATHS 1 Heart Disease 33.0 717,618 2 Cancer 23.9 520,548 3 Cerebrovascular (Stroke) 6.6 143,756 4 Emphysema, Bronchitis & Asthma 4.2 91,930 5 Accidents 4.0 86,659 6 Pneumonia & Influenza 3.5 75,712 7 Diabetes 2.3 50,065 8 HIV/AIDS 1.5 33,553 9 Suicide 1.4 30,471 10 Homicide 1.2 25,434

Sources: National Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society, Centers for Disease Control

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