Report outlines successes, challenges in cancer prevention efforts

A new report from the American Cancer Society details cancer control efforts and outlines improvements as well as gaps in preventive behavior that contribute to cancer mortality. Increasing rates of obesity observed since the early 1980s appear to have slowed in the past decade, particularly among women and girls, but nearly one in five adolescents and about one in three adults is obese. Vaccination against the virus that causes cervical cancer is up, but smoking declines have stalled. Meanwhile, proven cancer screening tests remain underutilized, particularly in un- and under-insured populations. The report, Cancer Prevention & Early Detection Facts & Figures (CPED), says social, economic, and legislative factors profoundly influence individual health behaviors, and that meeting nationwide prevention goals will require improved collaboration among government agencies, private companies, nonprofit organizations, health care providers, policy makers, and the American public.

Much of the suffering and death from cancer could be prevented by more systematic efforts to reduce tobacco use, improve diet and physical activity, reduce obesity, and expand the use of established screening tests. The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2011 about 171,600 cancer deaths will be caused by tobacco use alone. In addition, approximately one-third of the 572,210 cancer deaths expected to occur in 2011 are attributed to poor nutrition, physical inactivity, overweight, and obesity.

Regular use of some established screening tests can prevent the development of cancer through identification and removal or treatment of premalignant abnormalities; screening tests can also improve survival and decrease mortality by detecting cancer at an early stage when treatment is more effective.

The American Cancer Society has published Cancer Prevention & Early Detection Facts & Figures (CPED) annually since 1992 as a resource to strengthen cancer prevention and early detection efforts at the local, state, and national levels. CPED complements the Society’s flagship publication, Cancer Facts & Figures, by disseminating information related to cancer control. Cancer prevention and early detection are central to the American Cancer Society’s mission and its 2015 goals. The mission of the Society is to save lives from cancer by helping people stay well and get well, by finding cures, and by fighting back.

In 1999, the American Cancer Society set challenge goals for the US that, if met, would substantially lower cancer incidence and mortality rates and would improve the quality of life for all cancer survivors by the year 2015. The Society also has developed nationwide objectives for prevention and early detection that set the framework for achieving the 2015 goals. These objectives can be achieved by improved collaboration among government agencies, private companies, other nonprofit organizations, health care providers, policy makers, and the American public.

Social, economic, and legislative factors profoundly influence individual health behaviors. For example, the price and availability of healthy foods, the incentives and opportunities for regular physical activity in schools and communities, the content of advertising aimed at children, and the availability of insurance coverage for screening tests and treatment for tobacco addiction all influence individual choices. These issues not only affect a person’s cancer risk, but also the risk of other major diseases. The Society has joined forces with the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association to identify strategies that will improve prevention and early detection efforts for all of the major chronic diseases in the US.