American Lung Association's 'State of Lung Cancer' 2019 Report Finds New York Tied for Best 5-year Survival Rate of Lung Cancer
Second annual report from American Lung Association explores how states can act to save more lives, support patients and families facing lung cancer
New York, NY (November 13, 2019) — Lung cancer is the #1 cancer killer of women and men in the United States. It’s estimated that 13,380 New Yorkers will be diagnosed with this disease in 2019 alone, but fortunately more Americans than ever are surviving the disease according to a new report from the American Lung Association, with New York leading the nation for 5-Year Survival rates.
The annual “State of Lung Cancer” report examines the toll of lung cancer throughout the nation, and outlines steps every state can take to better protect its residents from lung cancer. This year’s “State of Lung Cancer” seeks to continue the positive trend of increased lung cancer survival, as the nationwide five-year lung cancer survival rate of 21.7%, up from 17.2% a decade ago, reflects a 26% improvement over the past 10 years. In New York State the survival rate is 26.4%, tying Connecticut for the best 5-year survival rates in the country.
“While we celebrate that more Americans than ever are surviving lung cancer, the disease remains the leading cause of cancer deaths, and much more can and must be done in New York State to prevent the disease and support families facing a lung cancer diagnosis,” said Carla Sterling, Executive Director for the American Lung Association in metro New York. “While we are ahead of the curve for survival rates, early detection and surgery – we can do better when it comes to encouraging high risk patients to seek lung cancer screenings – which would save even more lives.”
Part of the reason that lung cancer is so deadly is because most lung cancer cases are diagnosed at a later stage, after the disease has spread. Lung cancer screening is the key to early detection, when the disease is most curable, but only 21.5% of lung cancer cases nationally are diagnosed at an early stage. While this simple screening test has been available since 2015, only 3.6% of those eligible in New York State have been screened.
Dr. Andrea Wolf, Director of the Women’s Lung Cancer Program at Mount Sinai Hospital said, “This simple test - lung cancer screening - is a powerful tool to save lives, and yet we’re only seeing a fraction of those who qualify actually getting screened. We are working to bring more awareness of screenings to the general public, but also to continue to push the medical community to offer these screenings to high risk patients, the same way they encourage tests like colonoscopies and mammograms”
The "State of Lung Cancer" 2019 report finds that the burden of lung cancer varies on a state by state basis. By better understanding the impact of lung cancer across the nation, efforts and policies can be focused where the needs are greatest, and this year’s report finds New York State can and must do more to protect residents from lung cancer. Below are the key findings for New York:
Survival: Lung cancer has one of the lowest five-year survival rates because cases are often diagnosed at later stages when it is less likely to be curable. New York ranks #1 along with Connecticut.
Early Diagnosis: Nationally, only 21.5 % of cases are diagnosed at an early stage when the five-year survival rate is much higher (57.7%). Unfortunately, about 48.5% of cases are not caught until a late stage when the survival rate is only 6%. New York ranks among highest at 24.1%.
Surgical Treatment: Lung cancer can often be treated with surgery if it is diagnosed at an early stage and has not spread widely. Nationally, 20.6 % of cases underwent surgery. New York ranks among highest at 27%.
Lack of Treatment: There are multiple reasons why patients may not receive treatment. Some of these reasons may be unavoidable, but no one should go untreated because of lack of provider or patient knowledge, stigma associated with lung cancer, fatalism after diagnosis, or cost of treatment. Nationally, about 15.4% of cases receive no treatment. New York ranks 16.1% of cases do not receive treatment, giving it a worse than average ranking.
Screening and Prevention: Screening for lung cancer with annual low-dose CT scans among those who qualify can reduce the lung cancer death rate by up to 20%. Nationally, only 4.2% of those who qualify were screened. New York State ranked below average with 3.6%.
Learn more about "State of Lung Cancer" at Lung.org/solc. For media interested in speaking with a medical expert about the "State of Lung Cancer" 2019 report or lung cancer survivor about their experience, contact Jennifer Solomon at the American Lung Association at Jennifer.Solomon@Lung.org or 516-680-8927.