Cancer Reference Information
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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 (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 a 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. This is because people with lung cancer tend not to live as long once diagnosed.

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 2006, the most recent year for which good estimates 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, 2006

Primary site

Estimated prevalence
    Total Males Females
All invasive cancer sites 11,028,000 5,116,000 5,912,000
Brain & other nervous system 112,000 60,000 52,000
Breast 2,605,000 15,000 2,590,000
Cervix   198,000 0 198,000
Colon & rectum 1,184,000 578,000 606,000
Endometrial cancer & Uterine sarcoma 563,000 0 563,000
Esophagus 32,000 24,000 8,000
Hodgkin disease 148,000 77,000 72,000
Kidney & renal pelvis 296,000 175,000 120,000
Larynx 98,000 78,000 20,000
Leukemias 245,000 139,000 106,000
Liver & bile duct 27,000 18,000 9,000
Lung & bronchus 426,000 199,000 227,000
Melanoma of skin 766,000 382,000 384,000
Multiple myeloma 67,000 37,000 30,000
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma 453,000 234,000 219,000
Oral cavity & pharynx 252,000 161,000 91,000
Ovary 174,000 0 174,000
Pancreas 36,000 17,000 18,000
Prostate 2,320,000 2,320,000 0
Stomach 71,000 41,000 30,000
Testis 175,000 175,000 0
Thyroid 388,000 87,000 300,000
Urinary bladder 587,000 434,000 153,000
Childhood cancer (age 0 -19 years) 260,000 134,000 126,000

References

Horner MJ, Ries LAG, Krapcho M, et al (eds). SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2006, National Cancer Institute. Bethesda, Md, based on November 2008 SEER data submission, posted to the SEER web site, 2009. Table I-21, US Prevalence Counts, Invasive Cancers Only, January 1, 2006, Using Different Tumor Inclusion Criteria. Accessed at http://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2006/results_single/sect_01_table.21_2pgs.pdf on September 3, 2009.

Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program (www.seer.cancer.gov). Prevalence database: "US Estimated 31-Year L-D Prevalence Counts on 1/1/2006". National Cancer Institute, DCCPS, Surveillance Research Program, Statistical Research and Applications Branch, released April 2009, based on the November 2008 SEER data submission.

Last Medical Review: 09/03/2009
Last Revised: 09/03/2009