Incident Diagnoses of Cancers and Cancer-related Deaths, Active Component, U.S. Armed Forces, 2000-2011

In the United States, cancer is one of the fi ve leading causes of death in all age groups among both men and women; overall, approximately one in four deaths is attributable to cancer. Compared to the general U.S. population military members have been estimated to have lower incidence rates of several cancers including colorectal, lung, and cervical cancers and higher rates of prostate, breast, and thyroid cancer. Between 2000 and 2011 in active component members of the U.S. military, crude incidence rates of most cancer diagnoses have remained stable. 9,368 active component service members were diagnosed with one of the cancers of interest and no specifi c increasing or decreasing trends were observed. Cancer is an uncommon cause of death among service members on active duty and accounted for a total of 1,185 deaths during the 12-year surveillance period.
Published in Medical Surveillance Monthly Report, v19 n6 p18-23, June 2012. See also ADA563931. The original document contains color images.