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Cancer Prevalence: How Many People Have Cancer?

What is cancer prevalence?

Cancer prevalence is defined as the total number of people living with cancer at any point in time. It includes people diagnosed with cancer in the past as well those who were recently diagnosed.

Cancer prevalence is affected both by the incidence of a cancer and by how long people normally live with the disease, but it is not a measure of cancer occurrence. This number is the cancer incidence, which is the number of people newly diagnosed with cancer in a given time period (usually a year).

For example, lung cancer is the second most common cancer in both men and women, but lung cancer prevalence is not as high as that of some less common cancers. This is because people with lung cancer tend not to live as long after diagnosis.

The numbers

The numbers on the chart come from the US National Cancer Institute's Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database for the year 2008, the most recent year for which incidence data are available. These estimates are based on a sampling of the US population.

Numbers may not add up because they have been rounded to the nearest 1,000.

Estimated cancer prevalence in the United States as of January 1, 2008

   

    Males

    Females

    All invasive cancer sites

    11,958,000

    5,506,000

    6,452,000

    Brain and other nervous system

    129,000

    68,000

    61,000

    Breast

    2,646,000

    14,000

    2,632,000

    Cervix

    244,000

    0

    244,000

    Colon & rectum

    1,110,000

    542,000

    568,000

    Endometrial cancer and Uterine sarcoma

    573,000

    0

    573,000

    Esophagus

    30,000

    23,000

    7,000

    Hodgkin disease

    167,000

    86,000

    81,000

    Kidney and renal pelvis

    296,000

    174,000

    122,000

    Larynx

    89,000

    71,000

    18,000

    Leukemias

    254,000

    143,000

    111,000

    Liver and bile duct

    32,000

    22,000

    10,000

    Lung and bronchus

    373,000

    173,000

    200,000

    Melanoma of skin

    823,000

    401,000

    422,000

    Multiple myeloma

    64,000

    35,000

    29,000

    Non-Hodgkin lymphoma

    454,000

    235,000

    219,000

    Oral cavity and pharynx

    253,000

    164,000

    89,000

    Ovary

    178,000

    0

    178,000

    Pancreas

    35,000

    17,000

    18,000

    Prostate

    2,355,000

    2,355,000

    0

    Stomach

    66,000

    38,000

    28,000

    Testis

    201,000

    201,000

    0

    Thyroid

    458,000

    101,000

    357,000

    Urinary bladder

    537,000

    398,000

    139,000

    Childhood cancer

    (age 0 -19 years)

    353,000

    177,000

    176,000

References

Howlader N, Noone AM, Krapcho M, et al (eds). SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2008, National Cancer Institute. Bethesda, MD, based on November 2010 SEER data submission, posted to the SEER Web site, 2011 accessed at http://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2008/ on October 14, 2011.


Last Medical Review: 10/18/2011
Last Revised: 10/18/2011
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