An Update on Cancer

Course overview

Cancer is the second-leading cause of death in the U.S. behind heart disease (Siegel et al., 2022). The exact number of new cancer diagnoses is unknown for several reasons, including incomplete cancer registration data for some states and a lag in available statistics, but the American Cancer Society (ACS) projected that more than 1,918,030 new cancer cases would occur in the U.S. in 2022 (Siegel et al., 2022). According to the ACS, about 609,360 patients will die from cancer in the U.S. in 2022 (Siegel et al., 2022). The National Cancer Institute (NCI) reports the most common cancers were breast, lung and bronchus, prostate, and colorectal cancers (NCI, 2020). The rates of mortality for common cancer types showed a decline between 2015 and 2019 (NCI, 2021a). About 80% of cancers diagnosed in the U.S. occur in patients over the age of 55 (American Cancer Society, 2022c). The goal of this course is to update the knowledge of nurses regarding current cancer statistics, methods of detection and screening, and suggestions to promote cancer prevention.