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Cancer prevalence
is defined as the total number of people living with cancer at any
point in time. It includes both people diagnosed with cancer in the
past (who are still alive) as well as people recently diagnosed.
Cancer prevalence is not a measure of how common a cancer is.
This number is reflected by cancer incidence,
which is the number of people newly diagnosed with cancer in a given
time period (usually one year). Prevalence is affected both by the
incidence of a cancer and by how long people normally live with the
disease.
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 because people with lung cancer tend not to
live as long once diagnosed.
The following numbers come from the US National Cancer
Institute’s Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database
for the year 2004, the most recent year for which reliable estimates
are available. These are estimates based on a sampling of the US
population. Numbers may not add up due to rounding to the nearest
1,000.
| Estimated
United States Cancer Prevalence, 2004 |
|
Total |
Males |
Females |
| All Sites |
10,326,000 |
4,776,000 |
5,550,000 |
| Brain & Other Nervous System |
103,000 |
55,000 |
48,000 |
| Breast |
2,439,000 |
12,000 |
2,427,000 |
| Cervix |
192,000 |
0 |
192,000 |
| Colon & Rectum |
1,141,000 |
556,000 |
585,000 |
Endometrial Cancer
and Uterine Sarcoma |
541,000 |
0 |
541,000 |
| Esophagus |
28,000 |
21,000 |
7,000 |
| Hodgkin Disease |
138,000 |
72,000 |
66,000 |
| Kidney & Renal Pelvis |
263,000 |
157,000 |
106,000 |
| Larynx |
99,000 |
79,000 |
20,000 |
| Leukemias |
219,000 |
124,000 |
94,000 |
| Liver & Bile Duct |
22,000 |
14,000 |
8,000 |
| Lung & Bronchus |
412,000 |
199,000 |
213,000 |
| Melanoma of Skin |
686,000 |
341,000 |
345,000 |
| Multiple Myeloma |
60,000 |
34,000 |
26,000 |
| Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma |
406,000 |
210,000 |
196,000 |
| Oral Cavity & Pharynx |
239,000 |
152,000 |
87,000 |
| Ovary |
166,000 |
0 |
166,000 |
| Pancreas |
32,000 |
15,000 |
17,000 |
| Prostate |
2,156,000 |
2,156,000 |
0 |
| Stomach |
66,000 |
38,000 |
28,000 |
| Testis |
161,000 |
161,000 |
0 |
| Thyroid |
338,000 |
77,000 |
261,000 |
| Urinary Bladder |
561,000 |
414,000 |
146,000 |
| Childhood Cancer (0-19 years) |
238,000 |
122,000 |
116,000 |
References
National Cancer Institute. SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2004.
2007. Available at:
http://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2004/results_merged/topic_prevcounts.pdf.
Accessed December 3, 2007.
Revised: 12/03/2007
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