One in Two Americans will develop Cancer in their Lifetime

According to the American Cancer Society the lifetime risk of developing or dying from cancer refers to the chance a person has, over the course of his lifetime, of being diagnosed with or dying from disease. These risk estimates, like annual incidence and mortality data, provide another measure of how widespread cancer is in the United States.

The information is from the US National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Database, and is based on incidence and mortality data for the United States from 2009 through 2011.

The risk is expressed both in terms of a percentage and as odds. For example, the risk that a man will develop bladder cancer during his lifetime is 3.83%. This means he has about 1 chance in 26 of developing bladder cancer (100/3.83 = 26.1). Put another way, 1 out of every 26 men in the United States will develop bladder cancer during his lifetime.

The risk for women of developing cancer at any site is 37.8% while their risk of dying due to cancer is 19.6%.  This means 1 in 3 women will develop cancer in their life while 1 in 5 will die from the disease.

The risk for females for developing breast cancer, the most common cancer in women, is 12.3%.   This means 1 in 8 women will develop the disease while the risk of dying form cancer is 2.7%, which means 1 in 37 will die from the disease.

The risk for men of developing cancer at any site is 43.3% while the risk of dying due to cancer is 22.6%.  This means 1 in 2 men will develop cancer in their life while 1 in 4 will die from the disease.

The risk for men to develop prostate cancer, the most common cancer in men, is 15%.   This means 1 in 7 men will develop the disease while the risk of dying is 2.6%, which means 1 in 38 will die from the disease.

According to a study published in the British Journal of Cancer, the odds of developing cancer over the course of one’s life in the UK has increased from 38.5% for men born in 1930 to 53.5% for men born in 1960. For women it increased from 36.7 to 47.5%.

Therefore according to the data for the United States and United Kingdom over half of people who are currently adults under the age of 65 years will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lifetime.