Cancer Research: Using Science to Reduce the Burden of Cancer

CDC conducts studies and supports public health research designed to help the cancer community better understand the factors that increase cancer risk and find new ways to prevent cancer. CDC also evaluates the feasibility and effectiveness of strategies designed to prevent and control cancer.

The cancer community has made extraordinary progress during the past two decades in developing and using cancer prevention strategies, early detection interventions, and cancer treatments. Nonetheless, cancer remains the second leading cause of death in the United States, claiming the lives of more than half a million Americans every year. [1]

CDC conducts and supports studies, often in collaboration with academic partners, to develop and promote application of sound science to reduce the burden of cancer and eliminate health disparities. This research uses many different areas of expertise (behavioral science, economics, epidemiology, health services, medicine, and statistics) to address the public health research needs of CDC programs, health care providers, people affected by cancer, and the larger cancer control community.

Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer

Since 1998, CDC has collaborated with the American Cancer Society, the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, and the National Cancer Institute to create this annual report. It provides an update of cancer incidence (new cases) and death rates and trends in these rates in the United States, as well as an in-depth analysis of a selected topic.

The most recent report shows that, for the first time in the history of the report, both incidence and death rates for all cancers combined are decreasing for both men and women. This is due in large part to declines in the three most common cancers among men (lung, colorectal, and prostate) and the two most common cancers among women (breast and colorectal), combined with a leveling off of lung cancer death rates among women.

"Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975–2005, Featuring Trends in Lung Cancer, Tobacco Use and Tobacco Control" was published in the Dec. 2, 2008 Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Assessing the Burden of Human Papillomavirus-Associated Cancers in the United States (ABHACUS)

This first analysis of the largest, most comprehensive assessment of human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated cancer data to date in the United States found that 25,000 cases of HPV-associated cancers occurred in 38 states and the District of Columbia annually during 1998–2003. The top HPV-associated cancer sites were the cervix, oral cavity and oropharynx, anus, vulva, penis, and vagina. The study was published in the Nov. 15, 2008 supplement edition of Cancer.

Cancer Incidence in American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) Populations

CDC released the most comprehensive cancer data available for American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) across the United States. It found that cancer incidence rates, especially lung and colorectal, among AI/AN men and women varied greatly across six geographic regions of the country (Alaska, East, Northern Plains, Pacific Coast, Southern Plains, and Southwest).

The 16 studies, published in the Sept. 1, 2008 supplement edition of Cancer, also focus on disparities in health risk behaviors and cancer test use, explain how incidence rates vary widely by region, and suggest methods for improving cancer surveillance among the AI/AN populations.

Surveillance for Cancers Associated with Tobacco Use: United States, 1999–2004

About 2.4 million cases of tobacco-related cancers were diagnosed in the United States from 1999 to 2004, according to this study, published in the Sept. 5, 2008 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports Surveillance Summary.

In the most comprehensive assessment to date, the study marks the first time CDC has reported on all tobacco-related cancers for more than 90 percent of the population. Though tobacco is a major cause for all the cancers presented in this report, not all cases of cancer studied could be linked directly to tobacco use. Some of these cancers have several important risk factors such as infections or genetic factors that can operate in concert with, or independently, of tobacco.

Previous Work

Other important studies funded by CDC's Division of Cancer Prevention and Control include monographs on the epidemiology of colorectal (colon) and ovarian cancers in the United States. These projects shed new light on the impact of these cancers on people of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds.

[1] Kung H-C, Hoyert DL, Xu J, Murphy SL. Deaths: Final data for 2005. National Vital Statistics Reports 2008;56(10). ( 2.27MB, 121 pages)

More Information

• Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975–2005, Featuring Trends in Lung Cancer, Tobacco Use and Tobacco Control
• HPV-Associated Cancers
• Cancer Incidence in American Indians and Alaska Natives
• Surveillance for Cancers Associated with Tobacco Use: United States, 1999–2004
• Descriptive Epidemiology of Colorectal Cancer in the United States, 1998–2001
• Descriptive Epidemiology of Ovarian Cancer in the United States, 1992–1997
• CDC's Scientific Articles on Cancer
• CDC's Division of Cancer Prevention and Control