Report: There’ll be 20 million cancer survivors in U.S. by 2026
There were more than 15.5 million Americans with a history of cancer as of January 1, 2016, a number that is projected to reach more than 20 million by 2026. That’s according to Cancer Treatment and Survivorship Statistics, 2016, published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society (ACS), and its companion publication for consumers, Cancer Treatment & Survivorship Facts & Figures, 2016-2017. The report was released ahead of National Cancer Survivors Day, Sunday June 5, 2016.
Although overall cancer incidence rates are declining in men and stable in women, the number of cancer survivors continues to increase in the United States because of a growing and aging population, as well as increases in cancer survival because of advances in early detection and treatment.