First, the good news: The overall cancer death rate has been on a steady decline—as have smoking rates, with only 11% of Americans now smoking cigarettes. As a result, cancers associated with tobacco smoking have fallen. Also, breast and colorectal cancer screening rates rebounded after decreasing or stalling during the pandemic.
But there’s bad news, too: Up-to-date screenings for cervical cancer are low, remaining below pre-pandemic levels and continuing what’s been a decline since the early 2000s. Meanwhile, rates of HPV vaccinations—highly effective against most cases of cervical cancer—have flattened.
