Each year, the American Cancer Society publishes a summary of its guidelines for early cancer detection, data and trends in cancer screening rates, and select issues related to cancer screening. In this issue of the journal, the current American Cancer Society cancer screening guidelines are summarized, and the most current data from the National Health Interview Survey are provided on the utilization of cancer screening for men and women and on the adherence of men and women to multiple recommended screening tests.

https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.3322/caac.21557

Cancer screening in the United States, 2019: A review of current American Cancer Society guidelines and current issues in cancer screening.

Although cancer mortality rates declined in the United States in recent decades, some populations experienced little benefit from advances in cancer prevention, early detection, treatment, and survivorship care. In fact, some cancer disparities between populations of low and high socioeconomic status widened during this period. Many potentially preventable cancer deaths continue to occur, and disadvantaged populations bear a disproportionate burden. Reducing the burden of cancer and eliminating cancer-related disparities will require more focused and coordinated action across multiple sectors and in partnership with communities. This article, part of the American Cancer Society's Cancer Control Blueprint series, introduces a framework for understanding and addressing social determinants to advance cancer health equity and presents actionable recommendations for practice, research, and policy. The article aims to accelerate progress toward eliminating disparities in cancer and achieving health equity.

https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.3322/caac.21586

Understanding and addressing social determinants to advance cancer health equity in the United States: A blueprint for practice, research, and policy.

This article summarizes cancer mortality trends and disparities based on data from the National Center for Health Statistics It is the first in a series of articles that will describe the American Cancer Society's vision for how cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment can be transformed to lower the cancer burden in the United States, and sets the stage for a national cancer control plan, or blueprint, for the American Cancer Society goals for reducing cancer mortality by the year 2035 Although steady progress in reducing cancer mortality has been made over the past few decades, it is clear that much more could, and should, be done to save lives through the comprehensive application of currently available evidence-based public health and clinical interventions to all segments of the population CA Cancer J Clin 2018;000:000-000 © 2018 American Cancer Society

https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.3322/caac.21460

An assessment of progress in cancer control.

Annually, there are 1.6 million new cases of cancer and nearly 600,000 cancer deaths in the United States alone. The public health burden associated with these numbers has motivated enormous research efforts into understanding the root causes of cancer. These efforts have led to the recognition that between 40% and 45% of cancers are associated with preventable risk factors and, importantly, have identified specific molecular mechanisms by which these exposures modify human physiology to induce or promote cancer. The increasingly refined knowledge of these mechanisms, which we summarize here, emphasizes the need for greater efforts toward primary cancer prevention through mitigation of modifiable risk factors. It also suggests exploitable avenues for improved secondary prevention (which includes the development of therapeutics designed for cancer interception and enhanced techniques for noninvasive screening and early detection) based on detailed knowledge of early neoplastic pathobiology. Such efforts would complement the current emphasis on the development of therapeutic approaches to treat established cancers and are likely to result in far greater gains in reducing morbidity and mortality.

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Molecular mechanisms of the preventable causes of cancer in the United States

Overall cancer death rates in the United States have declined since 1990. The decline could be accelerated by eliminating socioeconomic and racial disparities in major risk factors and screening utilization. We provide an updated review of the prevalence of modifiable cancer risk factors, screening, and vaccination for U.S. adults, focusing on differences by educational attainment and race/ethnicity. Individuals with lower educational attainment have higher prevalence of modifiable cancer risk factors and lower prevalence of screening versus their more educated counterparts. Smoking prevalence is 6-fold higher among males without a high school (HS) education than female college graduates. Nearly half of women without a college degree are obese versus about one third of college graduates. Over 50% of black and Hispanic women are obese compared with 38% of whites and 15% of Asians. Breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening utilization is 20% to 30% lower among those with <HS education compared with college graduates. Screening for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancers is also lower among Hispanics, Asians, and American Indians/Alaska Natives relative to whites and blacks. Enhanced, multilevel efforts are needed to further reduce the prevalence of modifiable risk factors and improve screening and vaccination, particularly among those with lower socioeconomic status and racial/ethnic minorities.

https://cebp.aacrjournals.org/content/cebp/28/4/629.full.pdf

Current Prevalence of Major Cancer Risk Factors and Screening Test Use in the United States: Disparities by Education and Race/Ethnicity.

The continuing high prevalence of cigarette smoking among specific subpopulations, many of them vulnerable, is one of the most pressing challenges facing the tobacco control community. These populations include individuals in lower education and/or socioeconomic groups; from certain racial/ethnic groups; in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community; with mental illness; and in the military, particularly among those in the lowest pay grades. Although traditional tobacco control measures are having positive health effects for most groups, the effects are not sufficient for others. More attention to and support for promising novel interventions, in addition to new attempts at reaching these populations through conventional interventions that have proven to be effective, are crucial going forward to find new ways to address these disparities. CA Cancer J Clin 2018;68:106-115. © 2018 American Cancer Society.

Who's still smoking? Disparities in adult cigarette smoking prevalence in the United States

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Over the last decade, the use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), including the electronic cigarette or e-cigarette, has grown rapidly. More youth now use ENDS than any tobacco product. This extensive research review shows that there are scientifically sound, sometimes competing arguments about ENDS that are not immediately and/or completely resolvable. However, the preponderance of the scientific evidence to date suggests that current-generation ENDS products are demonstrably less harmful than combustible tobacco products such as conventional cigarettes in several key ways, including by generating far lower levels of carcinogens and other toxic compounds than combustible products or those that contain tobacco. To place ENDS in context, the authors begin by reviewing the trends in use of major nicotine-containing products. Because nicotine is the common core—and highly addictive—constituent across all tobacco products, its toxicology is examined. With its long history as the only nicotine product widely accepted as being relatively safe, nicotine-replacement therapy (NRT) is also examined. A section is also included that examines snus, the most debated potential harm-reduction product before ENDS. Between discussions of NRT and snus, ENDS are extensively examined: what they are, knowledge about their level of “harm,” their relationship to smoking cessation, the so-called gateway effect, and dual use/poly-use. CA Cancer J Clin 2017;67:449-471. © 2017 American Cancer Society.

Rosemary Kennedy

Papers

Who's still smoking? Disparities in adult cigarette smoking prevalence in the United States

Key issues surrounding the health impacts of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) and other sources of nicotine.