Cancer statistics, 2026: Charting a course for a national cancer research agenda
Cette étude présente les données de l'"American Cancer Society" concernant l'estimation de l'incidence des cancers et la mortalité spécifique pour l'année 2026 ( 2 114 850 nouveaux cas, 626 140 décès)
In this issue of CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, the American Cancer Society (ACS) delivers its highly anticipated annual portrait of the nation's cancer burden.1 As in previous years, this authoritative and widely cited report draws on data from every state and the District of Columbia, aggregating data from cancer registries and the National Center for Health Statistics to provide the most comprehensive and detailed view of cancer incidence, mortality, demographics, and disparities.
In 2026, the ACS estimates that there will be more than 2.1 million new cancer diagnoses (or about 5800 cases daily) in the United States. In men, the most common malignancies continue to be prostate, lung, and colorectal cancers; in women, breast, lung, and colorectal cancers are most common. Yet this year's projections also bring some troubling trends: more men with prostate cancer will be diagnosed at advanced stages, in which a cure is less attainable; breast cancer incidence continues to rise, especially among women younger than 50 years; and colorectal cancer is also increasing in adults younger than 50 years.
Counterbalancing these concerns is a profoundly encouraging trend: cancer mortality in the United States continues its long, steady decline. Since 1991, cancer death rates have fallen by 34%, translating to 4.8 million lives saved. This extraordinary progress reflects decades of iterative and transformative advances in cancer research and the implementation of those findings into prevention, screening, and clinical care. In short, research saves lives!
In the case of publicly funded clinical trials conducted through the National Cancer Institute's (NCI's) National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN), this progress has also been remarkably cost effective. In a study of NCTN trials since 1980, approximately 14.2 million additional life-years were gained by patients with cancer, with projected gains of 24.1 million life-years by 2030. Incredibly, the federal investment cost per life-year gained was estimated to be just $326.2
These ACS projections have provided a rigorous, empirical foundation for shaping, prioritizing, and implementing research strategies across both laboratory and clinical settings. They also clarify where our knowledge falls short and expose where cancer health disparities persist. In spotlighting malignancies with rising incidence, stubbornly high mortality, or persistent inequities, these data direct researchers to focus efforts on the most urgent unmet needs in cancer research, ensuring that progress will have a profound impact on patients and communities.
Within the United States research ecosystem of federally funded clinical trials, the NCI's NCTN, Experimental Therapeutics Clinical Trials Network (ETCTN), and Cancer Centers Program all play pivotal roles in translating the ACS's cancer statistics into actionable research. Within the NCTN cooperative groups, the research bases (SWOG Cancer Research Network, the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group-American College of Radiology Imaging Network Cancer Research Group, the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, the NRG Oncology Foundation, and the Children's Oncology Group) provide a platform for conducting practice-changing, investigator-initiated phase 2 or 3 clinical trials, aligned with emerging scientific research priorities.3 Through the NCI's National Community Oncology Research Program, trials extend into the community setting, enabling the enrollment of participants who reflect the evolving demographics of the US cancer population.4
CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians , éditorial en libre accès, 2026