Table 1.
Differences in adult enrollments to National Cancer Institute’s National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) vs estimated cancer incidence by age group and cancer type, 2016-2021a,b
| Cancer type | 18-64 y, % | 65-69 y, % | 70-74 y, % | 75-79 y, % | 80-84 y, % | 85 y and older, % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All cancer typesc | ||||||
| Enrollments (n = 61 131) | 59.5 | 16.9 | 12.7 | 7.3 | 2.8 | 0.8 |
| Incidence (n ≈ 1 723 000) | 42.0 | 15.9 | 14.5 | 11.5 | 8.2 | 7.9 |
| Difference | +17.5d | +1.0 | −1.8 | −4.2 | −5.4 | −7.1 |
| Bladder | ||||||
| Enrollments (n = 2579) | 31.2 | 18.9 | 19.3 | 16.3 | 10.1 | 4.1 |
| Incidence (n ≈ 77 000) | 23.5 | 15.3 | 17.2 | 16.3 | 13.5 | 14.2 |
| Difference | +7.7 | +3.6 | +2.1 | 0.0 | −3.4 | −10.1 |
| Breast | ||||||
| Enrollments (n = 16 534) | 80.5 | 11.0 | 5.5 | 2.1 | 0.7 | 0.2 |
| Incidence (n ≈ 256 000) | 52.8 | 14.8 | 12.6 | 8.9 | 5.7 | 5.2 |
| Difference | +27.7 | −3.8 | −7.1 | −6.8 | −5.0 | −5.0 |
| Colorectal | ||||||
| Enrollments (n = 1644) | 72.7 | 12.3 | 7.8 | 4.5 | 2.0 | 0.6 |
| Incidence (n ≈ 144 000) | 41.7 | 13.6 | 12.7 | 11.4 | 9.7 | 10.9 |
| Difference | +31.0 | −1.3 | −4.9 | −6.9 | −7.7 | −10.3 |
| Leukemia | ||||||
| Enrollments (n = 2415) | 54.2 | 19.1 | 15.2 | 8.1 | 2.9 | 0.6 |
| Incidence (n ≈ 50 000) | 37.3 | 13.9 | 14.2 | 12.9 | 10.4 | 11.2 |
| Difference | +16.9 | +5.2 | +1.0 | −4.8 | −7.5 | −10.6 |
| Lung | ||||||
| Enrollments (n = 10 962) | 41.2 | 21.6 | 20.0 | 12.0 | 4.4 | 0.9 |
| Incidence (n ≈ 212 000) | 27.3 | 16.9 | 18.8 | 16.3 | 11.5 | 9.1 |
| Difference | +13.9 | +4.7 | +1.2 | −4.3 | −7.1 | −8.2 |
| Melanoma and/or Skin | ||||||
| Enrollments (n = 2492) | 66.0 | 15.2 | 9.3 | 5.5 | 2.8 | 1.2 |
| Incidence (n ≈ 93 000) | 44.7 | 13.7 | 13.0 | 10.9 | 8.6 | 9.1 |
| Difference | +21.3 | +1.5 | −3.7 | −5.4 | −5.8 | −7.9 |
| Myeloma | ||||||
| Enrollments (n = 1817) | 53.2 | 20.3 | 17.2 | 6.5 | 2.2 | 0.5 |
| Incidence (n ≈ 28 000) | 34.0 | 16.6 | 16.0 | 14.0 | 10.6 | 8.8 |
| Difference | +19.2 | +3.7 | +1.2 | −7.5 | −8.4 | −8.3 |
| Ovarian | ||||||
| Enrollments (n = 2061) | 54.9 | 18.3 | 14.5 | 8.9 | 2.9 | 0.5 |
| Incidence (n ≈ 22 000) | 50.8 | 13.5 | 11.7 | 9.3 | 7.3 | 7.5 |
| Difference | +4.1 | +4.8 | +2.8 | −0.4 | −4.4 | −7.0 |
| Prostate | ||||||
| Enrollments (n = 4829) | 36.2 | 25.6 | 20.5 | 12.5 | 4.0 | 1.2 |
| Incidence (n ≈ 213 000) | 37.6 | 23.9 | 18.3 | 11.1 | 5.3 | 3.8 |
| Difference | −1.4 | +1.7 | +2.2 | +1.4 | −1.3 | −2.6 |
| Renal | ||||||
| Enrollments (n = 2491) | 61.6 | 15.6 | 12.1 | 7.3 | 3.0 | 0.4 |
| Incidence (n ≈ 62 000) | 47.1 | 16.4 | 14.0 | 10.6 | 6.5 | 5.4 |
| Difference | +14.5 | −0.8 | −1.9 | −3.3 | −3.5 | −5.0 |
Estimated annual incident cases and incidence rates adjusted by age group calculated using Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program data from the SEER*Stat Database for incidence based on cases diagnosed between 2013 and 2018 and reported across 21 registries.
Cancer type subgroups are limited to those with at least 1500 NCTN patient enrollments between 2016 and 2021.
“All cancer types” includes all incident cases and all enrollments and is not limited to the cancer types shown in this table.
The “+” symbol indicates that the proportion of enrollments was greater than the proportion of incident cases and the age group was overrepresented in trial enrollments. The “−” symbol indicates that the proportion of enrollments was less than the proportion of incident cases and the age group was underrepresented in trial enrollments.