Adult Cancer Incidence
According to the American Cancer Society, cancer affects one in three Americans in their lifetime. We aimed to trend how cancer screenings and diagnoses have changed over time, and how they were influenced by the pandemic. Our data tracker shows the quarterly rates of overall and advanced cancer diagnoses over the past five years to understand overall trends in cancer, including breakdowns for specific cancer types.
Trends Over Time
Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related death in the U.S., accounting for nearly 20% of cancer deaths. Recent screening recommendation updates in 2023 have attempted to increase the number of patients who qualify to get screened for lung cancer by expanding the eligible age, reducing pack years required, and not limiting to those that quit more recently.
Lung Cancer Cases
Q1 2026
Quarterly rates of new cancer diagnoses per 100,000 patients.
Advanced Lung Cancer Cases
Q1 2026
Quarterly rates of new advanced cancer diagnoses per 100,000 patients.
Lung Cancer Screenings
Q1 2026
Quarterly rates of screenings per 100,000 patients.
Metric Definitions
- Numerator
- The number of distinct patients identified in that quarter having the event of interest (Cancer Diagnosis, Cancer Screening, Pre-Cancer Diagnosis, or Advanced Cancer). Patients are excluded if they have previously had a Cancer Diagnosis of that type. Departments must contribute data for the entire study period to be included.
- Denominator
- The number of distinct patients identified in that quarter having an in-person encounter. Departments must contribute data for the entire study period to be included.
- Lung Cancer Diagnosis
- A diagnosis with ICD-10-CM code of C34*.
- Advanced Cancer
- Advanced cancer cases are defined as either a Metastatic Diagnosis within 3 months after an initial Cancer Diagnosis, or the cancer classified as Stage 4 within 3 months after an initial Cancer Diagnosis of the same type.
- Lung Cancer Screening
- A procedure with CPT code of 71271 or a procedure with HCPCS code of G0297.
- Metastatic Diagnosis
- A diagnosis with ICD-10-CM code of C7B*, C78*, C79*, C77*.
Related Articles
ExpandDespite Insurance Coverage, At-Risk People Not Getting Life-Saving Lung Cancer Screenings
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends that patients eligible for lung cancer screening receive a low-dose CT scan to screen for lung cancer each year. Our study includes 381,849 patients eligible for lung cancer screening per USPSTF guidelines who have insurance coverage for a CT lung cancer screening through Medicaid or Medicare. We found 87.1% of eligible patients were not screened, despite having insurance coverage. We did not see large variability between Medicaid and Medicare screening rates as shown in Figure 1.
