Cancer Trends in the United States--A View From Europe

Abstract

The fifth in the series of Annual Reports to the Nation on the Status of Cancer (1) focuses on the four most common cancers—lung, female breast, colorectal, and prostate—that together account for more than half of both cancer cases and deaths in the United States. These four cancers have similar importance in most of Europe (2). A principal strength of the report is that it provides a wealth of information on the cancer trends in terms of both incidence and mortality. Incidence and mortality data each have their own advantages and disadvantages (Table 1 ).