CancerHealthcareA New Way to Raise Awareness to Prevent Cancer Fatalities

By Dr. Mona S. Jhaveri, Founder – Music Beats Cancer

Cancer is on the rise, and cases of misdiagnosis or missed cancer continue to claim too many lives. While the issues involved may be complex, the bottom line is simple: The number of people who die each year from cancer doesn’t have to be as high as it is.

Where cancer is on the rise

Several cancers are on the rise globally, and a recent study has found that cancer is becoming more prevalent in members of the younger generations. These “early-onset” cancers emerge in adults who are between 18 and 49 years old, which is often too young for routine cancer screenings to have begun. For instance, patients usually start getting mammograms when they turn 40 and colonoscopies when they turn 45.

Moreover, the American Cancer Society has found that racial and ethnic minorities — primarily Native American and Black people — have disproportionately high fatality rates from cancer. In addition, women under the age of 65 now have higher rates of cancer than men, reversing a longstanding trend. Indeed, women who are 49 years old or less now have an 82 percent higher incidence rate than their male peers. This is mainly due to increases in breast cancer and thyroid cancer.

That said, there have also been disturbing findings for men. Another recent study surveyed the cancer statistics for males in 185 countries and projected that their fatalities will skyrocket from 5.4 million in 2022 to 10.5 million in 2050.

So, why is cancer on the rise? A variety of factors, including aging, lifestyle, and environmental exposure, play a role. Liver and pancreatic cancers are attributable to the rising rates of obesity and diabetes, for instance. Colon cancer in young adults is also increasing sharply compared to older adults, a trend that is also thought to be associated with obesity and poor microbiome health.

On the bright side, advances in technology have also improved screening. When healthcare practitioners catch cancers that may have gone undetected previously, the statistics look worse, but patients can benefit from earlier treatment, which often leads to better outcomes.

Yet misdiagnosis of cancer and cases in which the patients’ cancer went undiagnosed continue to place people at risk of severe adverse consequences.

The problem of missed cancers and misdiagnosis

During the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals and healthcare facilities were unable to provide routine cancer screenings and other critical care. According to a 2024 study, about 125,000 cancer cases were missed as a result.

While the pandemic was an unusual time, research shows that, in general, when healthcare professionals fail to order diagnostic tests or obtain a referral or consult in a timely manner — or altogether — patients’ cancer can go unchecked, leading to “higher-severity patient harm.” In other words, when people’s cancer isn’t identified, the disease is allowed to strengthen and grow, which can lead to cases that are harder — if not impossible — to treat later.

When it comes to misdiagnosis, a classic study that the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published in 1998 found that cancers can be diagnosed incorrectly in up to as many as 44 percent of all cases. Again, specific demographics are at more risk of misdiagnosis than others. Namely, women and racial and ethnic minorities are 20 to 30 percent more likely to suffer a misdiagnosis than white men.

As a result, these groups are also at heightened risk of negative health outcomes. According to another study in JAMA, diagnostic errors are responsible for almost 25 percent of patients who are transferred to intensive care or lose their lives at the hospital.

Misdiagnosis or missed cancer diagnoses can occur due to multiple factors. For many cancers, such as ovarian, pancreatic, lung cancer, and others, symptoms are vague and misunderstood until the cancer spreads and becomes more aggressive.

In other instances, cancer screening is irregular, and therefore, cancer is not caught at early stages. For example, a study has shown that, even after the government made changes to expand the number of people who qualify for colonoscopies, these procedures still have a low participation rate. Even when effective and accurate screening tools exist, healthcare practitioners face systemic problems in reaching and screening our population for cancers.

Thus, the question arises: how can we encourage people to undergo potentially lifesaving preventive care and make the lifestyle changes their medical professionals have recommended?

Cutting through the noise

Part of the problem is the noise and misinformation that influencers who are not healthcare experts disseminate on social media. These confusing messages can ultimately result in viewers failing to get the screenings that are necessary for early cancer detection.

Public forums where people can hear the truth from experts and voice their questions and concerns are badly needed. That’s why Music Beats Cancer is partnering with cancer-focused foundations to launch 60-second public service announcements called “Patients Speak Truth…In 60 Seconds or Less.” These spots feature patient advocates who correct common myths and misconceptions that currently bottleneck progress.

The number of people who die each year from cancer doesn’t have to be as high as it is. While misinformation is partly to blame, patients can ensure they don’t become a part of the tragic statistics by trusting reputable sources and availing themselves of the preventive care they qualify for.

By raising awareness, we can help halt cancer’s rise.

— As seen in TIME, Health, and Healthline, as well as on NBC 4 Washington and ABC 7 News DC, Dr. Mona S. Jhaveri is the founder and executive director of Music Beats Cancer, a nonprofit that addresses the funding gaps in cancer research often referred to as the “Valley of Death.” Before founding Music Beats Cancer, she established Foligo Therapeutics, Inc. in 2005 to develop a DNA-based therapeutic compound for ovarian cancer. Although Foligo initially attracted funding, it ultimately succumbed to the Valley of Death. Dr. Jhaveri emphasizes that many promising cancer research projects fail not due to flawed science but because they lack the necessary funding to succeed. She earned her doctorate in biochemistry from the Bowman Gray School of Medicine at Wake Forest University and trained as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Cancer Institute. She has also received the SPORE Fellowship Award for Breast Cancer Research at the Lombardi Cancer Center of Georgetown University and specialized in intellectual property and technology transfer at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research.