Cancer Cases Rising in Women, Young People. How to Reduce Your Risk

• A new report shows that cancer cases are increasing in females and in younger adults in the United States.
• For the first time, cancer rates in females ages 50 to 64 have surpassed those in males, according to the report.
• The reason for these shifts is not clear, but doctors pointed to lack of physical activity, high alcohol consumption and diets high in ultra-processed foods as possible factors.

Cancer death rates decreased by 34% from 1991 to 2022 in the United States, according to a report published January 16 by the American Cancer Society (ACS).

The Cancer Statistics, 2025 report shows this was mainly due to declines in the four most common types of cancer — lung, colorectal, breast and prostate.

However, the rate of new cases of cancer — known as incidence — increased for many types of cancer during this period, including among females and younger adults.

For example, cancer incidence in females ages 50 to 64 years surpassed that of males for the first time, the report found. The cancer rate among females younger than 50 years is now 82% higher than in males, an increase from 51% in 2002.

In addition, among people younger than 65 years, lung cancer incidence is higher among females than males. This is due to differences in women starting smoking and quitting, the report noted.

The report also highlighted that incidence and deaths due to pancreatic cancer continue to increase for both males and females. The 5-year survival rate for people diagnosed with pancreatic exocrine tumors is just 8%. This type accounts for 9 out of 10 cases of pancreatic cancer.

“Pancreatic cancer is hard to diagnose early — there’s no screening test for it, like with colon cancer,” said Nilesh Vora, MD, hematologist and medical oncologist and medical director of the MemorialCare Todd Cancer Institute at Long Beach Medical Center in Long Beach, CA. Vora was not involved in the report.

“The treatments for pancreatic cancer haven’t mirrored the advances in treatment we’ve seen in some other cancers, like lung cancer, melanoma and colon cancer,” Vora told Healthline.

Overall, the report estimates that there will be 2,041,910 new cancer diagnoses in the U.S. in 2025, with 618,120 deaths due to cancer.

In spite of the expected large number of new cancer cases this year, the cancer death rate dropped by 34% between 1991 and 2022. This decrease led to nearly 4.5 million cancer cases being avoided, the report found.

“For individuals diagnosed with a cancer, the mortality rate is continuing to decrease and to decrease quite significantly,” said Kathleen K. Harnden, MD, MBA, medical director of breast oncology at Inova Schar Cancer Institute in Fairfax, VA. Harnden was not involved in the new report.

“Men and women who are facing a really difficult time and diagnosis [should know] that the future is bright, and that they are more and more likely to be cured and cancer-free at the other side of their treatment” she told Healthline.

“Our [cancer] treatment regimens and our diagnostic techniques have all gotten better, so we are finding cancer at increased incidence,” said Vora. “But people are also living much longer than they did 30 years ago, so the mortality rate has gone down. That tells me that there are more people living with cancer than there was before,” he added.

Harden noted the availability of advanced multi-disciplinary care — in which patients have access to coordinated care between a surgeon, medical oncologist and radiation oncologist — has also helped improve cancer survival in the United States.

“It makes someone’s care move faster,” she said. “All the physicians are speaking to each other, they review the same information and come up with a multi-pronged approach to someone’s cancer care.”

It’s not clear why females and young people have an increasing burden of cancer in recent years, but experts have identified several possible causes.

“We’ve talked a lot about lack of exercise and increasing obesity. We’ve talked a lot about diet changes,” said Vora. “I don’t think there’s a definitive conclusion that we can draw, but I think those things need to be explored.”

Harden pointed out that “as people are more engaged with their screens, or have positions and roles where they tend to be more sedentary — sitting at a desk and more screen-oriented, even not walking from one office to the other — that increases their risk of cancer.”

“There is also emerging evidence about the role of dietary changes,” she said. “The consumption of more ultra-processed foods may increase cancer risk. The decreased consumption of vegetables can also increase cancer risk.”

“I have concerns about the rising rates of obesity, especially in women,” said Harnden. “As obesity increases, [women’s] risk of breast cancer increases in lockstep with each extra five pounds that they have on their body.”

Higher alcohol consumption also increases the risk of several cancers. Oral cavity cancer, breast cancer and liver cancer — all of which saw increasing incidence in the report — are linked to the consumption of alcohol.

The report also highlighted alarming inequalities in cancer death rates. Rates in Native American people are two to three times higher than in white people for kidney, liver, stomach and cervical cancers.

In addition, Black people are twice as likely as white people to die of prostate, stomach and uterine corpus cancers. Black people are also 50% more likely to die from cervical cancer, which is preventable with the HPV vaccine.

“The inequalities in cancer care is always something that’s very humbling to see,” said Harnden. “We need to continue to strive to do better in screening for cancer, making sure that the great screening tools we have are accessible to people of all socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds.”

“And when those patients do need cancer treatment, we need to make sure that we are ensuring the accessibility of those treatments to everyone,” she said.

Vora mirrored her concern. “A lot of the underserved groups of patients aren’t benefitting from the same progress,” he said, “and that’s probably because we’re still not reaching out to those groups to get them screened and to educate them about cancer treatment and prevention.”

Harnden said there are several things people can do to reduce their risk of cancer.

“First and foremost, decrease your alcohol consumption, whatever your starting point is,” she said.

“There’s also very good data around the importance of exercise. But beyond exercise, it is important to be more active overall — take walks during the day, have meetings while you are walking, or incorporate more activity into your daily life,” she continued.

Harnden added that people decrease their consumption of ultra-processed foods and switch to a more plant-based diet.

“For some people, it’s harder to subtract things from the diet,” she said. “Instead, try adding vegetables, particularly cruciferous vegetables — broccoli, cauliflower and things like that — into your diet.”

“For people who still struggle with obesity, I recommend that they have a discussion with a weight loss specialist about considering some of the new tools in obesity management and weight loss, such as GLP-1s,” she suggested.

The American Cancer Society’s Cancer Statistics, 2025 report found that the death rate due to cancer decreased by 34% from 1991 to 2022 in the U.S., due to declines in the four most common types of cancer — lung, colorectal, breast and prostate.

However, the rate of new cancer cases in women aged 50 to 64 surpassed that of men for the first time. Also, the cancer incidence among women younger than 50 years is now 82% higher than in men, an increase from 51% in 2002.

Doctors are uncertain of the exact cause of these trends, but point to alcohol consumption, lack of physical activity and consumption of ultra-processed foods as possible contributing factors.