While Iowa continues to have the second highest and fastest growing rate of new cancers in the country, decreasing death rates create a growing number of cancer survivors in Iowa.
According to a new Cancer In Iowa report released Tuesday by the Iowa Cancer Registry, Iowa is home to 171,535 cancer survivors in 2025, compared to just 168,610 last year. The number is increasing as improvements in medical science have led to a decreasing mortality rate, and the number of new cancers continues to grow rapidly in the state.
With a growing number of survivors, researchers with the Iowa Cancer Registry said, in a press conference Tuesday, the need for care for cancer survivors will become critically important in the next decade.
“Cancer survivors have unique needs that must be considered by health care providers,” Sarah Nash, the director of research, analytics and dissemination for the Iowa Cancer Registry, said during a press conference at the University of Iowa Public Health Building on Tuesday. “Survivorship resources are under development across the United States. While many health care and community partners are invested in supporting Iowa’s cancer survivors, our main message here today is that there is an opportunity to increase the support.”
Nash said survivors require care like screening for cancer recurrence and, for new cancers, addressing the side effects of cancer treatment and improving quality of life through nutrition, physical activity, and movement.
The annual report prepared by the Iowa Cancer Registry, which is housed in the UI College of Public Health, estimates 21,200 new cancers will be diagnosed this year, and 6,300 Iowans will die from cancer.
The report found that breast, prostate, and lung cancer will account for nearly half of all new cancers in the state with lung, colon, rectal, and pancreatic cancer estimated to be the top killers in the state. The report also found that one in 20 Iowans will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime.
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With an increasing disparity between the number of Iowans diagnosed with cancer and the number dying from the disease, the registry’s report stressed the need for health care providers to emphasize support for cancer survivors.
The report found the majority of survivors had breast, prostate, or colon and rectal cancers, with an estimated 84,780 Iowans having survived the cancer remaining alive today.
Richard Demming, the director of the Mercy One Cancer Center in Des Moines and the founder of Above + Beyond Cancer, said although advancements in medical care have increased cure rates, survivors still face physical and mental health-related quality of life issues after becoming cancer-free.
Demming said doctors and health systems often don’t give cancer survivors as much attention compared to those actively fighting cancer, and said it leaves cancer survivors facing their post-cancer journey without much guidance. He said they face ongoing physical, emotional, and psychological stressors, among many others.
“Survivorship care is an important part of the cancer journey, but one that is often unappreciated, or, I should say, under-appreciated, by cancer sectors and also by cancer survivors,” Demming said.
He called on Iowa health care providers to continue caring for and providing support to cancer patients after they’ve been declared cancer-free.
“A good health system treats cancer and kills cancer cells,” Demming said. “A great health system takes care of patients and families who have experienced cancer.”
Mark Burkard, the director of Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, said providers and policymakers need to make sure they’re flexible with implementing more programs focused on survivorship, given the number of survivors in Iowa.