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U.S. Cancer Statistics: Highlights from 2020 Mortality and Incidence with Comparison to 2019 Incidence to Assess the Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic

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File Language:
English


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  • Corporate Authors:
    National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (U.S.). Division of Cancer Prevention and Control.
  • Description:
    The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted health services, leading to delays and reductions in cancer screening, diagnosis, and reporting to some central cancer registries. This may have contributed to an observed decline in 2020 incidence for most cancer sites.

    Each year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) produce updated U.S. Cancer Statistics data. These data are the official federal cancer statistics for the United States. The U.S. Cancer Statistics provides cancer information about the U.S. population. Information about new cancer cases (incidence) comes from CDC’s National Program of Cancer Registries (NPCR) and NCI’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program, and information about cancer deaths comes from CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. The latest data release includes information about new cancer cases and deaths through 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Soon after, stay-at-home orders, business and school shutdowns, and travel advisories were implemented in the United States to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Additionally, some health care systems reduced access to routine care. These measures, along with concern about getting COVID-19, interrupted cancer screening, diagnosis, and care as people postponed or deferred health care visits, particularly from March to May 2020.

    Cancer rates normally change from year to year, in part because of changes in screening test use, diagnostic practices, and treatment. In addition, some changes in 2020 may be from disruptions in cancer care caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Reporting of cancer cases may have been delayed from disruptions in registry operations (for example, reduced access to medical records or central cancer registry staff reassigned to COVID-19 response efforts). Changes in incidence may be apparent immediately whereas changes in death rates may take years to see. This year’s U.S. Cancer Statistics Highlights presents rates for new cancer cases and deaths occurring in 2020, with data from previous years as a comparison.

  • Subjects:
  • Source:
    United States cancer statistics data brief ; no. 35
  • Series:
    U.S. Cancer Statistics Data Brief
  • Document Type:
    Text
  • Genre:
    Webpage
  • Place as Subject:
    United States
  • Collection(s):
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha-512:3a843c3563e9246669ed9d4521b817a96c12a79fd21426ce2597cad08e175fbfa636281bb4a9e021e1e81d54bd783726a767af9c7bfe9ba4687237da2c4e15c5
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  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 1.03 MB ]
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