News & Events

View All Past Events

2025

SEER supported research finds disparities in lung cancer mortality between urban and rural populations

July 19, 2025 - American Cancer Society

In a new study of lung cancer mortality trends in the United States, researchers examined differences among Black and White populations, as well as urban and rural communities. The researchers—based at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program—reported that lung cancer death rates between Black and White men became more similar, but significant disparities remain between urban and rural populations. The more rapid decline in mortality rates in urban areas suggests that recent advancements in lung cancer treatment may be less accessible to rural populations. The findings were published in the journal Cancer.

Previous studies found higher lung cancer incidence and mortality rates in rural areas. For this study, the researchers—including Dr. Douglas Lowy, acting director of the National Cancer Institute—compared incidence and mortality trends by both race and urban-rural residence.

The authors analyzed data from death certificates and the U.S. Cancer Statistics public use database, which combines data from SEER registries and the CDC’s National Program of Cancer Registries. They measured lung cancer mortality (1990–2021) and incidence (2001–2021) trends by race, sex, and urban-rural status.

Since the 1990s, lung cancer death rates declined more rapidly for Black men, significantly narrowing the gap with White men. However, the death rate among White women remained consistently higher than that of Black women.

The researchers also found that rural areas had higher lung cancer incidence and mortality rates compared to urban areas. Other findings include:

• From 2013 to 2021, lung cancer incidence rates declined similarly among Black and White men in both urban and rural areas.
• Mortality rates decreased faster for urban Black and White men compared to their rural counterparts.
• Incidence and mortality rates declined faster for urban Black and White women than for rural women.

While the disparity in lung cancer mortality between White and Black men narrowed substantially, differences by urban-rural status persist. The authors suggest patients in urban areas had lower death rates due to better access to the latest advances in lung cancer treatment.

Population of cancer survivors to grow past 22 million in 2035

May 30, 2025 - American Cancer Society

The American Cancer Society, along with researchers from the National Cancer Institute, recently published their estimates for how the cancer survivor population will grow in the United States. Cancer prevalence data, or the number of people alive as of a certain date who have a history of cancer, came from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program. Together with data on cancer case rates, deaths, and survival, researchers can model how these different populations of cancer survivors will change over time.

As of January 1, 2025, the researchers estimate that 18.6 million people in the United States were still alive despite a cancer diagnosis in their medical history. By 2035, the estimates grow to over 22 million people. The cancer sites with the highest number of survivors are prostate, melanoma, and colorectal for men and breast, uterine, and thyroid for women. About half of all cancer survivors were diagnosed in the last 10 years, and 79% of all survivors are age 60 or older. The researchers explore trends in cancer incidence, death, treatment, and survival across 11 different sites and groups, including children and adolescents. With the number of cancer survivors growing along with an aging population in general, the researchers note ongoing challenges related to the long-term health and supportive care needs of cancer survivors.

Rates of specific cancers increasing in people between ages 15 and 49

May 8, 2025 - Cancer Discovery

A cancer is often referred to as “early-onset” when it develops in a patient under 50 years old. In a study just published in Cancer Discovery, Dr. Meredith Shiels of NCI used data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program to compare the recent rates of new cancers and deaths in early-onset age groups (15- to 49 years) with rates in older age groups (50-79 years).

Between 2010 and 2019, 2,020,829 cancer cases were diagnosed in people between the ages of 15 and 49, with 63.4% of these cancers occurring in women. The most diagnosed cancer types were breast, thyroid, and melanoma for women and colorectal, testicular, and melanoma for men. As of 2019, the overall rate of new cancer cases did not change much for 15- to 29, 30- to 39, and 40- to 49-year-olds. However, when looking at specific cancer sites, the rates of new cases increased for 14 out of 33 different types of cancer occurring in 15- to 49-year-olds.

Rates of new cases of 19 cancer types decreased among early-onset groups, including lung and prostate cancer. Meanwhile, overall cancer mortality rates did not change much across any age group, but deaths from certain types of cancer like colorectal, bone and joint, uterine, and testicular did increase among certain age groups.

Dr. Shiels and her colleagues point to a couple factors that may drive the increasing cancer rates at specific sites. One, doctors increased screening and detection of certain diseases and genetic mutations linked to cancer, which can result in a cancer diagnosis at an earlier age. Two, rising rates of obesity nationwide might be contributing to the rising rates of 7 types of cancer in young people, such as colorectal, kidney, uterine, pancreatic, stomach, cervical, and myeloma. Because some of the increasing cancers among younger age groups are also increasing among older age groups, researchers need to investigate recent changes in risk factors at any age.

California uses SEER to analyze rates of new prostate cancer cases and deaths

January 27, 2025 - JAMA

Doctors look for prostate cancer using a prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood test. After previously recommending against PSA screening for all men, in 2018 the US Preventative Services Task Force recommended that men between ages 55 and 69 talk with their doctor about the possible benefits and harms of a PSA test. One of the issues with a PSA test is its inability to determine if the prostate cancer is slow-growing, and doesn’t need treatment, or if it’s aggressive and needs treatment before it advances to later stages. In other studies using Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) data, researchers found rates of regional and distant-stage prostate cancer increased from 2011 to 2019. A recent publication in Urology uses California-based SEER data to understand rates of new prostate cancer diagnosis and deaths between 2004 and 2021.

Overall, between 2004 and 2021, there were 387,636 prostate cancer cases in California. Out of these cases, 27,938 were diagnosed at the “distant” stage, meaning the cancer spread to other parts of the body far away from the prostate. From 2011 to 2021, the rate of new prostate cancer cases diagnosed at the distant stage increased by 6.7% each year. 9 out of 10 California regions had a 6% increase in distant stage disease. As for prostate cancer deaths, the trend had been improving for decades but stopped decreasing between 2012 and 2021. The researchers suggest development of new PSA screening strategies that are based on a patient’s risk for aggressive prostate cancer.