Here’s what you should know:
1. With an estimated 41,000 new liver cancer cases and around 29,000 liver cancer-related deaths in 2017, U.S.-based liver cancer rates have been rising steadily since the mid 1970s.
2. Researchers expect liver cancer rates to continue rising through 2030.
3. Researchers attribute high hepatitis C infection rates in baby boomers, rising general obesity and high type II diabetes rates to the increase in liver cancer.
4. Although liver cancer survival rates have risen over several decades, only one in five patients survived five years after a diagnosis.
5. There’s a high level of disparity in liver cancer patients by race/ethnicity and by geographical location.
Rates are lowest in North Dakota (3.8 per 100,000) and highest in Washington, D.C. (9.6 per 100,000).
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