Another 15,000 New Cancer Cases Expected For NJ in 2023
It's predicted that New Jersey will record more than 15,000 cancer deaths in 2023.
Over the same 12 months, more than 56,000 new cases of cancer are expected to be diagnosed throughout the state, according to a report released Thursday by the American Cancer Society.
The annual report, Cancer Facts & Figures 2023, delivers both promising and dark statistics related to the nation's fight against the deadly disease.
Overall, cancer mortality nationwide has dropped 33% since 1991, the report notes. That equates to an estimated 3.8 million lives saved.
From 2012 through 2019, the country recorded an "astounding" 65% reduction in cervical cancer rates among women aged 20 to 24, the report finds.
"The large drop in cervical cancer incidence is extremely exciting because this is the first group of women to receive the HPV vaccine, and it probably foreshadows steep reductions in other HPV-associated cancers," said Rebecca Siegel, lead author of the report.
But numbers related to prostate cancer have been moving in the opposite direction, according to the report. The rate of prostate cancer, the second leading cause of cancer death for men in the U.S., increased by 3% annually from 2014 through 2019, after two years of decline.
Even worse, those increases have been driven by the diagnosis of advanced disease. When prostate cancer is caught early — isolated to the prostate — the five-year survival rate is close to 100%, the American Cancer Society said. The five-year survival rate for someone who is diagnosed with distant disease is 32%.
"We are not catching the cancers early when we have an opportunity to cure men of prostate cancer," said Dr. Karen Knudsen, chief executive officer at ACS.
The incidence of prostate cancer in Black men is 70% higher than in white men, according to the report. Prostate cancer mortality rates are approximately two to four times higher for Black men, compared to men in every other racial and ethnic group.
2023 cancer estimates
According to ACS data, the U.S. will see 1,958,310 new cancer cases in 2023, and 609,820 cancer deaths.
The projected death total for New Jersey is 15,230, led by 2,800 lung cancer deaths.
According to the report, New Jersey could see 56,150 new cancer cases in 2023.
Close to 9,500 new prostate cancer cases are projected for New Jersey this year, and 8,580 cases of female breast cancer.
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