More Cancer Survivors Are Being Diagnosed With New Cancers

The number of patients with a prior cancer who have been diagnosed with a new cancer has increased by about 15% during a 6-year period, according to a study published in JAMA Oncology.¹

For this study, researchers examined data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program for 135,117 adults diagnosed with cancer in 2019.

Of these patients, 19.4% had a prior cancer. The researchers noted that this was an increase from the 18.4% prevalence of prior cancers they previously reported for 2009-2013.²

Coupled with overall increases in rates of cancer diagnosis, this change demonstrates “an approximately 15% increase in the number of cancer survivors diagnosed with a new cancer in 6 years,” the researchers wrote.¹

Among the 19.4% of patients who had a previous cancer were 8.6% whose prior cancer was a different type than their incident cancer, 1.9% whose prior cancer was the same type, and 8.9% whose prior cancer was an unknown type.

Having a previous cancer of a different type was more likely for:

• Patients aged 65 years or older than patients aged 18-49 years — 14.1% and 1.6%, respectively
• Men than women — 10.3% and 8.9%, respectively
• Non-Hispanic White patients than non-Hispanic Black patients — 11.0% and 5.7%, respectively.

The researchers noted that findings were generally similar for the 5 most common incident cancers, which were melanoma and cancers of the breast, colon and rectum, lung, and prostate.

Patients with 1 of the 5 most common incident cancers who were non-Hispanic White were more likely to have a prior cancer of a different type than patients of another race or ethnicity, including Hispanic, non-Hispanic Asian or Pacific Islander, and non-Hispanic Black. This difference is “perhaps associated with survival long enough to be diagnosed with multiple cancers,” the researchers suggested.

For patients who had a previous cancer of a different type, the most common incident cancers were myeloid and monocytic leukemia (21.1%), mesothelioma (18.0%), cancer of the penis or other male genital organs (17.4%), cancer of the urinary bladder or other urinary organ (17.0%), lung or other respiratory cancer (14.7%), or pancreatic cancer (14.1%).

“Increasing prevalence of prior cancer underscores the continued importance of evaluating exclusion criteria of clinical trials, improving equity in cancer care, and addressing the unique needs of this large and growing population,” the researchers concluded.

Disclosures: Some study authors declared affiliations with biotech, pharmaceutical, and/or device companies. Please see the original reference for a full list of disclosures.

References

1. Murphy CC, Tortolero GA, Gerber DE, Pruitt SL. An updated report on the prevalence of prior cancer among persons newly diagnosed with cancer in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program. JAMA Oncol. Published online June 15, 2023. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2023.1723

2. Murphy CC, Gerber DE, Pruitt SL. Prevalence of prior cancer among persons newly diagnosed with cancer: An initial report from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program. JAMA Oncol. 2018;4(6):832-836. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2017.3605

This article originally appeared on Cancer Therapy Advisor