Livestrong Army of Virginia

• This year alone, nearly 8 million people will die of cancer worldwide. Deaths due to cancer out number those caused by AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined.
• Millions more will suffer in isolation, victims not only of the disease but of social stigma—hiding their diagnosis, isolated by their communities, pushed out of family and social circles, reluctant to seek treatment and facing a lonely and painful fight for their lives.
• Sixty percent of all cancer is preventable. One-third can be cured if detected early and treated adequately.
• By 2030, there could be 27 million incident cases of cancer, 17 million cancer deaths annually and 75 million persons alive with cancer within five years of diagnosis.
• Cancer is projected to become the leading cause of death worldwide in the year 2010.
• The burden of cancer doubled globally between 1975 and 2000. It is estimated that it will double again by 2020 and nearly triple by 2030. Information obtained from Livestrongblog.org

Incidence and mortality

1.4 million Americans are expected to be diagnosed with cancer this year.

560,000 Americans are expected to die from cancer this year, or more than 1,500 per day.

Nearly 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women will develop cancer during their lifetime.

Within the next decade, cancer is likely to replace heart disease as the leading cause of death in the U.S. It is already the biggest killer of those under the age of 85.

Today 65% of adults diagnosed with cancer will be alive five years after diagnosis, up from 50% in the 1970s.

African-American men and women have the highest mortality rates for all cancer sites combined.

While dramatic survival improvements have been achieved in patients diagnosed with cancer at age 15 or younger and steady improvement has been made against a number of cancers common among those over age 40, little or no progress has been seen in the adolescent and young adult population. In fact, among those aged 25 to 35 years, survival has not improved in more than two decades.

Cancer costs and insurance coverage

The overall cost for cancer last year was $206 billion, which includes $78 billion for medical bills, $18 billion for lost productivity from the illness, and $110 billion due to lost productivity from premature death.

17% of Americans younger than age 65 have no health insurance coverage and 24% of Americans age 65 or older only have Medicare.