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Screening & Prevent

From 1975 to 2020, prevention and screening efforts averted 4.75 million deaths from five cancer types: breast, cervical, colorectal, lung and prostate.

According to a study led by researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), improvements in cancer prevention and screening have averted more deaths from five major cancer types over the past 45 years than treatment advances. The study examined the five most common cancer types that cause the highest number of deaths and found that a combination of prevention, screening, and treatment advances significantly reduced mortality rates.

Katrina A. B. Goddard, Ph.D., co-lead investigator and director of NCI’s Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences said, “Eight out of 10 deaths from these five cancers that were averted over the past 45 years were due to advances in prevention and screening.”

In total, the modeling showed, 5.94 million deaths were averted from these five cancers between 1975 and 2020. Of these, prevention and screening interventions accounted for 4.75 million, or 80%, of the averted deaths.

The individual contributions of prevention, screening, and treatment varied by cancer site:

  • In breast cancer, 1 million deaths (out of 2.71 million that would have occurred in the absence of all interventions) were averted from 1975 to 2020, with treatment advances contributing to three-quarters of the deaths averted and mammography screening contributing to the rest.
  • In lung cancer, prevention through tobacco control efforts accounted for 98% of the 3.45 million deaths averted (out of 9.2 million), and treatment advances accounted for the rest.
  • In cervical cancer, the 160,000 deaths averted (out of 370,000) were entirely through cervical cancer screening (i.e., Pap and HPV, or human papillomavirus, testing) and removal of precancerous lesions.
  • In colorectal cancer, of the 940,000 deaths averted (out of 3.45 million), 79% were due to screening and removal of precancerous polyps, with treatment advances accounting for the remaining 21%.
  • In prostate cancer, of the 360,000 deaths averted (out of 1.01 million), screening via PSA testing contributed 56% and treatment advances contributed 44%.

“These findings suggest that we need to continue to have strong strategies and approaches in all of these areas,” Dr. Goddard noted. “It's not just treatment advances alone, or prevention and screening alone, that is helping us to reduce cancer mortality.”

As always, talk with your physician to make sure you are up to date on your screenings. Don’t have a primary care physician? Call 866.744.2468 or visit www.sih.net/providers 

Source: National Institutes of Health: Thursday, December 5, 2024

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