39K New Cancer Cases Estimated In Washington This Year

The rate at which Americans die from cancer has fallen 27 percent since 1991, meaning about 2.6 million people are alive today who wouldn’t be had cancer death rates remained at their peak.

That’s the good news in a new study published Tuesday by the American Cancer Society. But cancer is still the second leading cause of death in America. And researchers estimate there will be about 1.76 million new cancer cases this year.

That includes more than 39,000 in Washington, where female breast cancer is expected to make up the highest number of the new cases, followed by lung/bronchus cancer and colon/rectum cancer.

Meanwhile, lung/bronchus cancer is expected to cause the highest number deaths in our state, followed by colon/rectum and pancreas cancer.

Here’s a breakdown of what Washington residents can expect:

• Female breast
• Estimated new cases: 5,840
• Uterine cervix
• Estimated new cases: 230
• Colon and rectum
• Estimated new cases: 2,800
• Uterine corpus
• Estimated new cases: 1,400
• Leukemia
• Estimated new cases: 1,370
• Lung and bronchus
• Estimated new cases: 4,770
• Melanoma of the skin
• Estimated new cases: 2,790
• Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
• Estimated new cases: 1,800
• Prostate
• Estimated new cases: 2,470
• Urinary Bladder
• Estimated new cases: 1,910

Many of the new cases across the country will involve the digestive system. Overall, the researchers predicted there will be more than 328,000 new cancer cases involving organs such as the esophagus, stomach, colon, rectum, liver and pancreas.

There will be an estimated 295,000 new cancer cases involving the genital system, 271,000 involving female breasts and 246,000 involving the respiratory system.

Among men, prostate cancer alone will account for about one in five cases. For women, 50 percent of all new diagnoses are expected to be of breast, lung and colorectal cancers. Breast cancer alone will account for an estimated 30 percent of the new cases for women.

The researchers also noted that while persisting racial gaps in cancer deaths are “slowly narrowing,” socioeconomic inequalities are widening — particularly when it comes to the most preventable types of cancers. Compared with the wealthiest counties, death rates in the poorest counties were twice as high for cervical cancer and 40 percent higher for male lung and liver cancers, the study found.

“In contemporary times, the prevalence of behaviors that increase cancer incidence and mortality are vastly higher among residents of the poorest counties, including double the prevalence of smoking and obesity compared to residents of the wealthiest counties,” the study said. “Poverty is also associated with lower cancer screening prevalence, later stage diagnosis, and a lower likelihood of optimal treatment.”

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Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

Photo credit: Chris Hondros/Getty Images