That's 565,650 estimated Cancer deaths in 2008.

Source: American Cancer Society

Probability of Developing Invasive Cancers

Over Selected Age Intervals by Sex, US, 2002-2004 source

In their lifetime, 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women will develop some sort of invasive cancer!

Estimated 1-5 Year Cancer Survivors

(Observed Survival Rates), All Sites Combined source

Estimated 5-year survival rate across all Cancer sites: 55.3%! It means 1 in 2 persons with Cancer will likely die within 5 years!

Progress compared to other diseases

The % drop in US death rate by cause for 1950 & 2005 -- a 55-year span.

  • Heart disease -- 64% drop
  • Cerebrovascular Diseases (stroke) -- 74% drop
  • Influenza & Pneumonia -- 57% drop
  • Cancer -- 5% drop

Source: American Cancer Society (see slide 4)