Hearing “you have cancer” from your doctor is something no one wants to experience at any point in life. But shockingly, half of all adults will get a cancer diagnosis, according to a new study from the British Journal of Cancer, which predicts that one out of every two U.K. adults born in 1960 will develop the disease during their lifetime.
Broken down by gender, the numbers slightly favor women, but only because more men smoke: Men born in 1960 have a lifetime cancer risk of 53.5 percent, while the risk is 47.5 percent for women. The study forecasts a rise in cancer rates; by contrast, only one in three U.K. residents born in 1930 were projected to get cancer.
It’s scary news, but do the numbers translate across the pond here in America? They line up pretty closely, says Len Lichtenfeld, M.D., deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society, with one in two men and one in three women in the U.S. expected to be diagnosed with the big C.
“The numbers reflect a few things: First, people are living longer, and advancing age is a significant risk factor for cancer,” says Lichtenfeld. “Also, we’re diagnosing cancer at greater rates because of technological advances in screening, such as mammography for breast cancer and PSA tests for prostate cancer.”
Speaking of better diagnostic tools, this is the reason for some good news concerning cancer: While more people are receiving a cancer diagnosis, the death rates for the disease have been steadily going down.
“Since the early 1990s, cancer deaths have declined about 20 percent,” says Lichtenfeld. And keep in mind that the stats, while startling, don’t take into account an individual’s lifestyle, which plays a role. Not using tobacco, being active, maintaining a healthy weight, and eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables and low in processed food are all things that can keep your lifetime cancer risk lower than the numbers predict.
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