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Cancer Prevalence: How Many People Have Cancer?
What is cancer prevalence?
Cancer prevalence is defined as the number of living people who have ever had a cancer diagnosis. It includes people diagnosed with cancer in the past as well those who were recently diagnosed.
Cancer prevalence is determined by how often a cancer occurs (incidence) and by how long people normally live after diagnosis (survival). Prevalence counts are highest for the most common cancers with the longest survival. A common cancer with shorter survival may have a lower prevalence count than a less common cancer with a longer survival.
For example, although lung cancer is the second most common cancer in both men and women, the prevalence count for lung cancer is lower than that for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which is the seventh most common cancer. This is because people survive longer with non-Hodgkin lymphoma than with lung cancer, so there are more people living after a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma than after a diagnosis of lung cancer.
The numbers
The numbers on the chart are prevalence counts from the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program. 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, 2009
Males |
Females | ||
All invasive cancer sites |
12,549,000 |
5,809,000 |
6,740,000 |
Brain and other nervous system |
135,000 |
71,000 |
65,000 |
Breast |
2,762,000 |
14,000 |
2,747,000 |
Cervix |
248,000 |
0 |
248,000 |
Colon & rectum |
1,140,000 |
559,000 |
581,000 |
Endometrial cancer and Uterine sarcoma |
590,000 |
0 |
590,000 |
Esophagus |
32,000 |
25,000 |
7,000 |
Hodgkin disease |
175,000 |
90,000 |
84,000 |
Kidney and renal pelvis |
320,000 |
188,000 |
132,000 |
Larynx |
89,000 |
72,000 |
18,000 |
Leukemias |
272,000 |
153,000 |
119,000 |
Liver and bile duct |
36,000 |
25,000 |
11,000 |
Lung and bronchus |
388,000 |
178,000 |
209,000 |
Melanoma of skin |
876,000 |
428,000 |
449,000 |
Multiple myeloma |
71,000 |
38,000 |
33,000 |
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma |
484,000 |
252,000 |
232,000 |
Oral cavity and pharynx |
264,000 |
173,000 |
92,000 |
Ovary |
183,000 |
0 |
183,000 |
Pancreas |
38,000 |
19,000 |
20,000 |
Prostate |
2,500,000 |
2,500,000 |
0 |
Stomach |
70,000 |
40,000 |
30,000 |
Testis |
211,000 |
211,000 |
0 |
Thyroid |
497,000 |
109,000 |
388,000 |
Urinary bladder |
554,000 |
411,000 |
143,000 |
Childhood cancer (age 0 -19 years at diagnosis) |
363,000 |
182,000 |
181,000 |
References
Howlader N, Noone AM, Krapcho M, et al (eds). SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2009, National Cancer Institute. Bethesda, MD, based on November 2011 SEER data submission, posted to the SEER Web site, 2012 accessed at http://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2009/ on May 1, 2012.
Last Revised: 10/23/2012