MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2004 Jun 25;53(24):526-9.
Because of advances in early detection and treatment, cancer has become a curable disease for some and a chronic illness for others. Underscoring this change, persons with diagnoses of cancer increasingly are described as "cancer survivors" rather than "cancer victims". Cancer survivors include all living persons who ever received a diagnosis of cancer. To highlight how the population of cancer survivors has changed in the United States, the National Cancer Institute and CDC studied cancer data collected during 1971-2001. This report summarizes the results of that study, which determined that the number of persons living with cancer increased from 3.0 million (1.5% of the U.S. population) in 1971 to 9.8 million (3.5%) in 2001. A national health objective for 2010 is to increase to 70% the proportion of cancer patients who are living > or =5 years after diagnosis, an objective already achieved for children with cancer but not yet for adults. The growing number of persons living with cancer poses challenges for researchers to understand the physical, psychosocial, and economic effects of surviving cancer and for public health practitioners to develop evidence-based programs to promote the health and well-being of cancer survivors.
由于早期检测和治疗方面的进展，癌症对于一些人而言已成为可治愈的疾病，而对于另一些人则是慢性病。这种变化的一个突出表现是，被诊断患有癌症的人越来越多地被称为“癌症幸存者”而非“癌症受害者”。癌症幸存者包括所有曾经被诊断患有癌症的在世者。为突出美国癌症幸存者群体的变化情况，美国国家癌症研究所和疾病控制与预防中心研究了1971年至2001年期间收集的癌症数据。本报告总结了该研究的结果，该研究确定，患癌存活人数从1971年的300万（占美国人口的1.5%）增至2001年的980万（占3.5%）。2010年的一项国家卫生目标是，将癌症患者确诊后存活≥5年的比例提高到70%，这一目标在儿童癌症患者中已实现，但在成年癌症患者中尚未实现。癌症存活人数的不断增加给研究人员带来了挑战，他们需要了解癌症存活对身体、心理社会和经济方面的影响；同时也给公共卫生从业者带来了挑战，他们需要制定基于证据的项目，以促进癌症幸存者的健康和福祉。
