Starting in 2026, U.S. cancer registries will only record sex as male, female, or unknown, dropping other identities due to federal policy changes.

Starting in 2026, U.S. cancer registries funded by the CDC and NIH must classify patient sex as male, female, or unknown, dropping options like "other" or "non-binary" due to federal directives linked to Trump-era policies. The change, affecting all states and territories, requires data to be marked unknown if sex isn't male or female. Public health experts warn this shift may compromise data accuracy, especially for transgender and non-binary individuals, potentially obscuring cancer trends and disparities. These registries, critical for tracking cancer patterns and shaping policies—such as lowering colorectal screening age—could lose vital insights, weakening efforts to address health inequities.