BUFFALO, N.Y. — Cancer impacts millions of lives every year in the U.S., which is why knowing all we can about current cancer rates is important.

The National Cancer Institute’s report took a look at cancer rates from 2001 to 2022.

The good news is that deaths are generally going down. The bad news is that there’s still room for improvement with certain cancers in certain populations.

“Statistics are best understood in aggregate and over time,” said Dr. Michael Wong, the physician-in-chief at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Twenty-one years of cancer data gives health care professionals a good look at what’s working and what isn’t.

The report shows we’ve made a lot of strides, especially with lung cancer.

“It has a large drop in incidence and that reflects sort of the success of anti-smoking campaigns and public health initiatives," said Wong. "We've also seen a decrease in the mortality.”

While overall incidence rates, meaning there was a cancer diagnosis, are down, some populations aren’t seeing the same.

“This is not universal success,” said Wong.

Cancer rates among adolescents and young adults were going down but have since plateaued. There's an uptick in non-melanoma skin cancers in men. 

Women are seeing an uptick in breast cancer diagnoses, though deaths are down. They also saw a spike in stomach cancer, but that could be because of new classifications.

“The World Health Organization just reclassified some of the type of tumors that were considered perhaps benign in the past. These are known as gastrointestinal stromal tumors, or GIST,” said Wong.

It could also point to increases in awareness and screenings, which would be a good thing.

“Not getting cancer is a very important part of this,” he added.

Wong wants to understand the big picture.

For example, the report notes that with cancers associated with obesity, rates are rising, but Wong notes that other factors should be taken into account too.

“If you go to the scene of a car accident, you'll see that there's a steering wheel 100% of the time, but what you don't see is the fact that the other things: that person steering the steering wheel may be the major cause of the accident," he said. "Association doesn't apply causality. However, it tells you that that's the place to look to start finding the clues.”

So what can you do to stay healthy?

Eat well, exercise and don’t skip out on screenings.

“We talk about things like mammography, colonoscopy, all those things which impact the mortality rate and the incidence rate," said Wong. "When you're well and healthy, that's a time to really get screened because that's the state you want to stay in."

The report also noted that there was one year where there was a pretty significant drop in cancer rates: 2020. That's the same year many places were closed and people stayed home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Numbers did go back to normal in the following years.

There is a hypothesis though that patients following 2020 might come in with higher stages of cancer, but this report only goes to 2022, so it'll take time to look at and break down all the other numbers.