Data from the national nonprofit includes cancer-related estimates for the year ahead as well as cancer incidence and death rates from a five-year period earlier this decade. The data was compiled for the society's Cancer Statistics 2020 research paper, which can be viewed here.
Overall, the cancer society estimated that Texas will see nearly 130,000 new cancer cases in 2020, around 7.13% of the total 1.81 million estimated for the U.S. this year. The state is expected to see 41,810 deaths from cancer in 2020, which is 6.89% of the more than 606,000 cancer deaths expected to occur within the U.S.
Certain cancer types remain prevalent causes of both new cases and deaths. Cancers of the colon and rectum, prostate, lung and bronchus, and breast remain the most common cancer types across the country, and they are anticipated to be the leading causes of new cases in Texas this year. Those four types as well as pancreatic cancer are also anticipated to be the leading causes of death in Texas in 2020. In addition to its 2020 projections, the cancer society also released its latest estimates for cancer incidence rates and death rates across the country. Those figures cover a recent five-year period and are based on information from cancer registries participating in the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program. The American Cancer Society's 2020 incidence rate estimates were calculated from information taken between 2012-16, while death rate estimates were compiled between 2013-17.
Based on the new information and past American Cancer Society estimates, cancer incidence rates for Texas males continued to slide between 2012-16 and have decreased more than 16% in a 10-year span. Incidence rates for Texas females declined by around 3% over the same span. Over a similar period, death rates from all cancer types declined at an even higher rate in Texas. Between the periods of 2003-07 and 2013-17, the male death rate dropped more than 17%, while the female death rate decreased by around 13.5%. In a statement released alongside the new information, the cancer society said the U.S. as a whole experienced a 2.2% drop in the death rate from cancer between 2016-17, which marked the largest single-year decrease the society had ever recorded.
