Articles about the cancer journeys of celebrities—including members of Congress, actors, a sportscaster and a supermodel—garnered the most attention from Cancer Health readers in 2023. In fact, eight of the year’s top 20 news items featured boldface names, including the No. 1 story, an update in April about U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin, who declared that chemotherapy had extinguished his lymphoma.
On May 11, the Department of Health and Human Services deemed that COVID-19 was no longer a public health emergency. Of course, the virus remains a public health concern and continues to be of high interest to people with cancer, especially as more data illuminating how the pandemic affected cancer care emerge. Such articles appear in the No. 2 and No. 3 spots on our year-end list.
The cancer drug shortage continues to be of concern (No. 16), as are financial hardships (No. 4), palliative care (No. 14), patient navigation (No. 12) and chemical exposures among women with cancer (No. 5) and among veterans (No. 7).
In 2023, the Food and Drug Administration took steps to ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, a topic that appears twice on our list (Nos. 8 and 13).
But wait. What about the latest treatment news, such as reports on immunotherapies and vaccines? They’re also important—both to us and our readers. For a roundup of those articles see “Top Cancer Health Science Stories of 2023.”
Here are the Cancer Health news stories with the most views in 2023:
1. Update From Rep. Jamie Raskin: Chemo Extinguished My Cancer
Posted: April 27
2. Fewer Cancer Surgeries, Chemotherapy and Radiation Treatments During Start of COVID-19 Pandemic
Posted: November 29
3. New Study Shows More Deaths With Cancer as Contributing Cause During First Year of Pandemic
Posted: April 21
4. Sharing Solutions for Financial and Other Cancer-Related Hardships
Posted: December 7
5. Study Finds Significant Chemical Exposures in Women With Cancer
Posted: October 24
6. ESPN’s Dick Vitale Diagnosed With Cancer for Third Time
Posted: July 19
7. PACT Act Allows Military Veterans to Access Benefits for Expanded List of Conditions Related to Exposures
Posted: May 3
8. FDA Submits Final Rule to Ban Menthol Cigarettes, Flavored Cigars
Posted: November 1
9. Congressman Steve Scalise Diagnosed With Blood Cancer, Begins Treatment
Posted: September 13
10. Supermodel Tatjana Patitz Dies of Breast Cancer at 56
Posted: January 12
11. Why Jerry Springer Kept His Cancer Diagnosis Private Until His Death
Posted: May 3
12. Medicare and Medicaid to Reimburse for Cancer Patient Navigation
Posted: August 14
13. Members of Congressional Black Caucus Call on FDA to Finalize Menthol Flavor Rule by August 23 Deadline
Posted: August 11
14. People With Advanced Cancer Are More Likely to Use Palliative Care if Close to Home
Posted: November 2
15. Shannen Doherty’s Breast Cancer Has Spread to Her Brain
Posted: June 14
16. Drug Shortage Is Affecting Cancer Treatment
Posted: May 24
17. Patients Receiving Cancer Treatment Understand Health Insurance Basics, but Important Knowledge Gaps Remain
Posted: October 30
18. Governor Signs Legislation That Will Reduce Burden of Cancer
Posted: March 24
19. “Walking Dead” Actor Erik Jensen Has Stage 4 Colorectal Cancer
Posted: October 30
20. Actress Bridgette Wilson-Sampras Treated for Ovarian Cancer
Posted: November 28
