The Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer shows the U.S. is making progress in controlling some tumors, but rates of human papillomavirus–related cancers remain stubbornly high.
Overall, the report shows lower cancer rates in the U.S. among all genders and racial and ethnic groups for the most common cancers, including lung, colon, anal, breast and prostate. But rates of HPV-related cancers, like cervical cancer, are elevated despite the fact that a vaccine exists to prevent the viral infection that can trigger the disease.
"It's hard not to be happy that the death rates of these major cancers are going down, but I think the HPV issue is pressing. IIf you can't get individuals to get vaccinated—because getting cancer is horrible, then there has to be an economic side to this because treating people with these cancers is expensive," says Dr. Joanne Mortimer, director of the Women's Cancer Program at the City of Hope cancer center in Los Angeles
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