{"id":22224,"date":"2026-03-18T09:00:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T09:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/?p=22224"},"modified":"2026-02-27T00:01:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T00:01:02","slug":"consumer-health-minute-cancer-resources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/consumer-health-minute-cancer-resources\/","title":{"rendered":"Consumer Health Minute: Cancer Resources"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Many people in your community have been affected by cancer. They may have or had a friend or family member diagnosed or been diagnosed themselves. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/nchs\/fastats\/leading-causes-of-death.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to the CDC<\/a>. We are all at risk of developing cancer though the risk increases as we age. Cancer can be caused by a variety of factors such as family history, environmental exposure, and lifestyle. It is estimated that about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cancer.org\/research\/cancer-facts-statistics\/all-cancer-facts-figures\/2026-cancer-facts-figures.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2.1 million new cancer diagnosis<\/a> will be made in 2026. The good news is that the overall cancer death rate has dropped in the last decade. Though survival rates vary by the type of cancer, the 5-year relative survival rate for all cancers is 70% from the years 2015 to 2021.<\/p>\n<p>According to NCI (<a href=\"https:\/\/seer.cancer.gov\/statfacts\/html\/common.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">National Cancer Institute<\/a>) the top new cancer diagnosis in 2025 were:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Breast<\/li>\n<li>Prostate<\/li>\n<li>Lung and bronchus<\/li>\n<li>Colon and rectum<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>While the top types of cancer deaths in 2025 were:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Lung and bronchus<\/li>\n<li>Colon and rectum<\/li>\n<li>Pancreas<\/li>\n<li>Breast<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Information is often what many people experiencing cancer or caregivers want which is exactly what your library can offer.<\/p>\n<h3>Resources:<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/medlineplus.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MedlinePlus<\/a><br \/>\nIn the <a href=\"https:\/\/medlineplus.gov\/healthtopics.html\">Health Topics tab<\/a>, Cancers is included in the Disorders and Conditions section. Clicking on <a href=\"https:\/\/medlineplus.gov\/cancers.html\">Cancers<\/a> results in an alphabetical list of the various types of cancers as well as cancer related topics such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bone Cancer<\/li>\n<li>Cancer Alternative Therapies<\/li>\n<li>Cancer\u2014Living with Cancer<\/li>\n<li>Childhood Leukemia<\/li>\n<li>Tumors and Pregnancy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These health topic pages often include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A summary<\/li>\n<li>Start Here<\/li>\n<li>Symptoms<\/li>\n<li>Diagnosis and Tests<\/li>\n<li>Treatments<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Along with related links to the Medical Encyclopedia on the right side of the screen.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cancer.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NIH National Cancer Institute (NCI)<\/a><br \/>\nYou\u2019ll find lots of information on this National Institutes of Health website. Thankfully, on the website home webpage, you\u2019ll see information organized \u201cFor People Affected by Cancer\u201d and one \u201cFor Researchers\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The section for the patients and the public includes information about:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Specific cancers<\/li>\n<li>Treatment<\/li>\n<li>Side effects<\/li>\n<li>Finding a clinical trial<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Additionally, if you scroll down you\u2019ll see \u201cGet Answers\u201d where you can connect with a cancer information specialist by phone, live chat, or email. You\u2019ll find information available in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cancer.gov\/espanol\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Spanish<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cancer.gov\/publications\/dictionaries\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dictionaries<\/a> of cancer terms, drugs, and genetic terms.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlanet.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Medical Library Association (MLA)<\/a><br \/>\nMLA offers a list of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlanet.org\/resources\/information-for-patients-and-caregivers\/recommended-cancer-information\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Recommended Cancer Information<\/a> put together by the MLA Cancer Librarians Caucus who review the resources for currency, credibility, content, audience, etc. Here you will find cancer resources for:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Special population groups<\/li>\n<li>Caregivers<\/li>\n<li>Children and adolescents<\/li>\n<li>LGBTQIA+ patients<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Print and Downloadable Materials<\/h3>\n<p>Want to provide some printed materials aside from what you can print from MedlinePlus?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cancer.gov\/publications\/patient-education\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">National Cancer Institute<\/a> includes patient education publications to download or print.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/education.cancer.org\/pages\/free-printables\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">American Cancer Society<\/a> has several printable documents along with a Cancer Care Toolkit and other helpful information you can offer your patrons.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/cancer\/resources\/print-materials.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CDC<\/a> offers a few printable materials regarding specific cancers and related information.<\/p>\n<p>But keep in mind that you are only providing health information. You are not making recommendations, interpreting the information, or relaying your own story. Remember that we are health information professionals, not healthcare professionals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many people in your community have been affected by cancer. They may have or had a friend or family member diagnosed or been diagnosed themselves. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, according to the CDC. We are all at risk of developing cancer though the risk increases as we&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/consumer-health-minute-cancer-resources\/\">Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[316,457],"tags":[463,119,254,234],"class_list":["post-22224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-consumer-health","category-consumer-health-minute","tag-cancer","tag-consumer-health","tag-health-information","tag-libraries"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22224"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22225,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22224\/revisions\/22225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}