Cancer now kills more Hispanic and Latino people in the United States than any other disease, and a new American Cancer Society report says the hardest-hit cancers are ones doctors can often catch or stop before they turn deadly.
Quick Take
- The American Cancer Society says cancer is a leading cause of death among Hispanic and Latino people in the United States.
- The group estimates 195,300 new cancer cases and 50,400 cancer deaths among Hispanic people in 2024.
- Cervical, liver, and stomach cancers show the biggest gaps compared to non-Hispanic White patients.
- Researchers point to screening gaps, delayed treatment, and limited health care access as key drivers.
What The New Report Actually Found
The American Cancer Society (ACS) built its report around hard numbers, not guesswork. Cancer caused about 17% of all deaths among Hispanic people, based on the group’s facts-and-figures release. From 2009 to 2019, cancer topped the death list for Hispanic Americans, a stretch confirmed in the ACS’s 2024-2026 report. That timeline matters because it shows this isn’t a one-year blip. It’s a pattern that held steady for a full decade before COVID-19 scrambled mortality data nationwide.
A peer-reviewed study published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians backs up the claim with vital statistics from 2019. It found cancer was the top killer among Hispanic individuals that year, while heart disease still led for the country overall and for non-Hispanic White Americans. The same study broke down which cancers hit hardest by sex. Lung, colorectal, and liver cancers led deaths among men. Breast, lung, and colorectal cancers led among women.
Why Cervical, Liver, And Stomach Cancers Stand Out
Here’s the part that should grab every reader’s attention: these three cancers are largely preventable. Cervical cancer can be caught early with Pap tests and stopped before it starts with the HPV vaccine. Stomach cancer often links to a treatable bacterial infection. Liver cancer frequently traces back to hepatitis, which can be screened and managed. Yet Hispanic men and women died from stomach cancer at rates far above the national population from 2020 to 2024, according to federal health data.
Outside research backs up the ACS findings with sharper numbers. One federal tracking source found Hispanic men were 51% more likely, and Hispanic women 80% more likely, to die from stomach cancer compared to the overall population. Liver cancer shows some of the widest gaps of any cancer type between Hispanic and White patients nationwide. Cervical cancer deaths among Hispanic women rank second highest of any group, trailing only non-Hispanic Black women.
The Access Problem Behind The Numbers
ACS materials repeatedly point to the same root cause: access. Hispanic patients are diagnosed at more advanced stages more often than White patients, and they use cancer screening tools like colonoscopies and mammograms less often. That’s not a mystery of biology. It’s a mystery of insurance coverage, clinic availability, and whether a family can afford to take a day off work for a checkup. Fix the access problem, and these preventable-cancer numbers should start to shrink.
It’s worth noting one wrinkle in the data. A separate ACS summary page describes cancer as the second leading cause of death among Hispanic people, trailing heart disease, rather than the top cause. That shift likely reflects COVID-19’s temporary effect on mortality rankings in recent years, since the virus became a major cause of death across all groups during the pandemic. The decade-long pattern from 2009 to 2019 remains the clearest, most consistent evidence of cancer’s outsized toll on this community.
What This Means For Families And Policy
This report isn’t just an academic exercise. It’s a roadmap. Preventable cancers are, by definition, cancers where earlier action saves lives. That means more Pap tests, more HPV vaccinations, more hepatitis screening, and more stomach bacteria testing reaching Hispanic communities. Overall cancer death rates for Hispanic Americans are actually lower than for non-Hispanic White Americans in many categories. The trouble is concentrated in a handful of cancers tied directly to screening and treatment access, which is exactly where targeted public health investment can make the fastest difference.
Just published! New @AmericanCancer statistics report in @CACancerJournal shows #cancer leading cause of death among #Hispanic #Latino people w/higher burden for largely preventable cancers like cervical/liver/stomach. https://t.co/QmYIDJRQR9 pic.twitter.com/kdXksiqZxT
— ACSNews (@ACSNews) October 5, 2026
Expanding access through community clinics, church partnerships, and private insurance competition works better than one-size-fits-all mandates. This report gives that argument fresh ammunition. The data shows exactly which cancers respond to prevention and exactly which communities need it most. The next step is getting screening tools and vaccines into the hands of the people who need them, without waiting for another decade of preventable deaths to prove the point.
Sources:
pressroom.cancer.org, cancer.org
