The American Cancer Society (ACS) recently published the first in a series of articles outlining the organization's vision for where cancer control can and should go between now and the year 2035. Although much has been done in the areas of cancer prevention, detection, and treatment, there is a lot more that can be done, according to the report published in the journal Cancer (2018; doi:10.3322/caac.21460).
The strategy to lower the cancer burden nationally by 2035 involves using targeted interventions to reduce the prevalence of cancer risk factors (smoking, obesity, and others), as well as facilitate delivery of high-quality prevention, early detection, and treatment services to low-income communities, according to Rebecca Siegel, MPH, Scientific Director of Surveillance Research at the ACS and a coauthor of the report.
"These articles outline our organization's vision on the most efficient path to lower the cancer burden in our nation," Siegel shared with Oncology Times. "It is our hope that they will be a call to action for professional organizations, government agencies, the medical profession, academia, and industry to work together to implement what is known about cancer control and create a national cancer plan."
ACS will publish subsequent articles over the next several months that focus on cancer risk factors, screening, treatment, survivorship, and research, she noted.
The evidence upon which the recent ACS report was developed comes from population-based data gathered by registrars working in treatment facilities across the U.S., as well as CDC cancer registries and ones funded by the NCI. The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program at the NCI includes data from 28 percent of the U.S. population, according to the report.
Here's what else Siegel said about the cancer control plan and the data outlined in this report.
1 Several of the strategies that ACS plans to bolster involve not necessarily fancier drugs or expensive new equipment, but rather better utilization of tools already at our fingertips. Why this approach?
"These strategies can help facilitate cancer control among our most vulnerable populations who do not currently benefit from all the known strategies for prevention, early detection, and treatment.
"Most cancer disparities are because of poverty. In general, people with lower socioeconomic status have a higher prevalence of cancer risk factors, such as smoking, obesity, an unhealthy diet, lower levels of health literacy and awareness, and less access to preventive care and high-quality treatment.
"Almost one-fourth of all cancer deaths could be averted if everyone had the same cancer death rates as those who are college-educated. (Education is used to approximate socioeconomic status because it is the only individual population-level socioeconomic marker available on death certificates.)"
2 One interesting data point in the report is that 22 percent of all cancer deaths would not occur if all Americans had the cancer death rates of college-educated Americans. In your own words, why is that point so significant?
"Educational attainment is used to approximate socioeconomic status because it is the only individual population-level socioeconomic marker available on death certificates. In general, people with lower socioeconomic status have a higher prevalence of cancer risk factors, such as smoking, obesity, and unhealthy diet, [as well as] lower levels of health literacy and awareness and less access to preventive care and high-quality treatment-resulting in higher cancer incidence and death rates.
"If people at all levels of the socioeconomic ladder experienced the same benefit of advances in cancer control as the people at the top, more than one in five cancer deaths could potentially be prevented."
3 What would you say is the most important message for practicing oncologists and the oncology care community to know about this new report and the aims of what the 2035 cancer control goals will be?
"Much of the work in reducing the cancer burden can be accomplished now, with the information we already have in hand, by ensuring that known strategies for cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment are disseminated to all Americans and not just those who are at the top of the socioeconomic ladder.
"[Some of the biggest barriers to accomplishing these goals are] a national desire for health equity and financial and human resources."