Number of U.S. Cancer Survivors Grows to Nearly 12 Million

Thursday, March 10, 2011 2:31 PM

From:

"Centers for Disease Control & Prevention"

The number of cancer survivors in the United States increased from 3 million in 1971 to 11.7 million in 2007, according to a new study by CDC and the National Cancer Institute.
A cancer survivor is defined as anyone who has been diagnosed with cancer, from the time of diagnosis through the balance of his or her life. Cancer survivors largely consist of people who are 65 years of age or older and women. Many people with cancer live a long time after diagnosis; more than a million people were alive in 2007 after being diagnosed with cancer 25 years or more earlier.
Of the 11.7 million people living with cancer in 2007—

• 7 million were 65 years of age or older.
• 6.3 million were women.
• 4.7 million were diagnosed 10 years earlier or more.

The largest groups of cancer survivors were—

• Breast cancer survivors (22%).
• Prostate cancer survivors (19%).
• Colorectal cancer survivors (10%).

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Cancer survivors—United States, 2007. MMWR 2011;60(9):269–272.

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6009a1.htm 

TABLE. Estimated number of living persons ever diagnosed with cancer, by age group and cancer type --- United States, January 1, 2007
Cancer type	Age group (yrs)					Overall
	0--19	20--39	40--64	65--84	≥85	No.	(%)
Ovary	1,033	10,357	79,225	73,230	13,315	177,162	(1.5)