Key result
US uterine cancer mortality rises ~1.5% annually, paralleling accelerating female obesity.
Why the study?
With uterine cancer incidence and mortality rising over the past two decades, the authors evaluated long-term mortality trends across demographics and geography alongside trends in female obesity prevalence.
Observational
Yes
Uterine cancer mortality in the US has significantly increased since 2009 across multiple demographics, likely driven by the concurrent rise in female obesity.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Obesity trends may contribute to uterine cancer mortality; leaves open causality and requires prospective confirmation before practice change.
e17616 Background: Uterine Cancer is the sixth most common cause of death in women. The incidence and mortality rates of uterine cancer have increased 0.7% and 1.1% per year respectively over the past two decades. We evaluated long-term mortality trends across age, race/ethnicity, urbanization and geography using national surveillance data. Additionally, we assessed recent trends in female obesity prevalence to provide insight into observed mortality patterns. Methods: We used the data from CDC WONDER from 1999-2020 to calculate age-adjusted mortality rates stratified by age, sex, race and urbanization. Uterine Cancer deaths were identified using ICD 10 codes C54-C55 and obesity was identified using ICD code E66. Temporal trends were assessed using Joinpoint regression to estimate annual percent changes (APC) and average annual percent change (AAPC) with 95% confidence interval. Results: Overall joinpoint regression identified a single inflection point in 2009. Mortality declined between 1999 and 2009 (APC -0.46%, 95% Cl -0.76 to -0.16; P = 0.005) followed by a significant increase from 2009-2020 (APC 1.53%, 95% Cl 1.32 -1.74; P <0.001), resulting in an overall rise in mortality (AAPC 0.58%, 95% Cl 0.41-0.74; P <0.001). Age stratified analysis shows sustained increase among women aged 25-64 years throughout the study period (AAPC range 1.39% -1.96%; P <0.001). Among women aged 45-84 years, inflection points occurred between 2005 and 2009, after which mortality increased significantly. A marked rise was seen in women aged 65-74 years after 2008 (APC 2.33%; P <0.001), while those aged 75-84 years had increase in mortality after 2009 (APC 1.40%; P <0.001). Racial disparities were evident with increasing mortality among Asian and Pacific Islander, Hispanics, Black and White women (AAPC 2.15%, 1.14%, 0.85%, 0.44% respectively; all P <0.001). Urbanization showed significant increase post 2009 across central, large fringe and medium metropolitan areas (AAPC range 0.40%- 0.80%; P <0.006). Geospatial mapping shows higher mortality clustering in parts of Midwest, Northeast and Southeast regions. In parallel, analysis of female obesity prevalence demonstrated a significant increase post 2010 (APC 6.38% , Cl 5.24-7.53; P <0.0001), with a greater increase noted in recent years, indicating a marked acceleration in the burden of obesity in past few years. Conclusions: This mortality burden likely reflects the obesity epidemic and increasing metabolic disease, resulting in estrogen exposure and insulin resistance, compounded by delayed diagnosis in the absence of effective screening. A shift towards aggressive histologic subtypes and persistent racial, socioeconomic and geographic inequities further amplify these trends. Hence, there is a need for equitable access to guideline-based care and further research.
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Saini et al. (2026) conducted an observational in Uterine cancer. Uterine cancer mortality in the US increased from 2009 to 2020, paralleling a marked acceleration in female obesity prevalence.
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