Cancer Prevention, Screening Averted Several Million More Deaths Than Treatment Over 45 Years

In the US, cancer prevention and screening have saved more lives from 5 types of cancer combined than treatment advances over the past 45 years, according to a modeling study published in JAMA Oncology. An estimated 5.9 million breast, cervical, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancer deaths were avoided from 1975 to 2020 due to prevention, screening, and treatment efforts, but prevention and screening alone were responsible for averting about 4.8 million—4 out of 5—of those deaths.