One in four people in the United States dies of cancer. However, absolute numbers of deaths continue to rise, partly because of a growing elderly population and declining deaths from heart disease. Cancer control will also become increasingly important worldwide as life expectancy improves as a result of lower infant mortality and decreased numbers of deaths from infectious diseases. Morbidity and mortality from many forms of cancer can be controlled through primary or secondary prevention. Primary prevention can be defined as risk modification to lower cancer occurrence.
Secondary prevention refers to detection of cancers at early stages.