The number of Americans told they have cancer has reached a record high of almost one in 10. A new Gallup poll has revealed that 9.7 percent of people have been told at some point in their lives by a nurse or doctor that they have it. It comes despite the number of cancer fatalities dropping. The two combine to form a sliver of optimism, with more people alive who have received diagnoses being driven by higher survival rates. Lung cancer has seen a decline as smoking rates drop, but cancers linked to obesity have increased, as have types of colorectal cancer among younger people. The number of people who had a diagnosis in 2007/8, when Gallup started gathering the data, was around seven percent and remained so until 2014/15. The rate of people who have received a diagnosis increases with older age brackets, with 21.5 percent of those at age 65 and over having done so, Axios reports. The U.S. also has an aging population, which could further increase the percentage of the population with a diagnosis.
