Cancer Deaths And Incidence Rates Falling In US

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Main Category: Cancer / Oncology
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 28 May 2009 - 2:00 PDT

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According to the American Cancer Society's annual cancer statistics, deaths due to cancer are falling steadily in the United States, thanks mainly to better prevention, earlier detection and improved treatment; plus incidence rates are also falling.

The report is published as a paper in the Society's CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians which was available as an early online issue on 27 May.

The report shows that cancer deaths among men in the US fell by 19.2 per cent from 1990 to 2005 and in women it fell by 11.4 per cent from 1991 to 2005.

Incidence rates also went down by 1.8 per cent a year in men from 2001 to 2005 and 0.6 per cent a year in women from 1998 to 2005.

Dr John R Seffrin, PhD, American Cancer Society chief executive officer told the press that a drop of one or two percentage points a year may not sound like much, but over 15 years this adds up to 650,000 fewer deaths.

"And because the rate continues to drop, it means that in recent years, about 100,000 people each year who would have died had cancer rates not declined are living to celebrate another birthday," said Seffrin.

"That is undeniable evidence of the lifesaving progress that we as a country must dedicate ourselves to continuing," he added.

The American Cancer Society (ACS) researchers got the cancer incidence rates from the National Cancer Institute, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries and cancer death rates data from the National Center for Health Statistics.

They standardized incidence and death rates by age to the 2000 United States standard million population.

The ACS researchers also wrote that for the US:

• Estimates show that there will be 1,479,350 million new cancer cases in 2009.


• And that 562,340 people will also lose their lives to cancer in 2009.


• The 5 year relative survival rate for all cancers diagnosed from 1996 to 2004 has gone up to 66 per cent, up from 50 per cent in 1975 to 1977.


• The increase in survival rate is most likely due to early detection and treatment.


• Among men, nearly 80 per cent of the reduction in deaths to cancer is due to falling rates of lung (37 per cent), prostate (24 per cent) and colorectal (17 per cent) cancer deaths.


• Among women, just over 60 per cent of the reduction in deaths to cancer is due falling rates of breast (37 per cent) and colorectal (24 per cent) cancer.


• Early detection, such as the increased use of colonoscopy for diagnosing colon cancer, and improved treatments are given as main reasons for the reduced cancer deaths among men and women.


• Reduction in tobacco use is the main reason for the drop in lung cancer deaths in men.


• Lung cancer deaths in women are now stabilizing after rising for several decades.


• Prostate, lung, and colorectal cancers account for about half of all cancers found in men.


• Breast, lung and colorectal cancers account for about half of all cancers in women.


• Together these cancers (prostate, breast, lung and colorectal) account for about half of all cancer deaths in men and women.


• 18 per cent more African-American men get cancer compared to white men, and there are 36 per cent more cancer deaths among African American men than white men.


• And although African-American women are less likely to get cancer than white women, when they do get it they are more likely to die from it.


• Lung cancer rates vary by region, reflecting their different rates of tobacco use, whereas for other cancers the rates across the country are broadly similar (eg breast and prostate cancers don't vary by region).

The report also shows cancer incidence, death rates and survival broken down according to site, sex, race/ethnicity, education, geographic area, and calendar year.

The authors concluded that:

"Although progress has been made in reducing incidence and mortality rates and improving survival, cancer still accounts for more deaths than heart disease in persons younger than 85 years of age."

They suggested that the progress could be speeded up by spreading the knowledge we already have about cancer control more evenly across the population and by supporting new discoveries in prevention, detection and treatment.

"Cancer Statistics, 2009."
Jemal, Ahmedin, Siegel, Rebecca, Ward, Elizabeth, Hao, Yongping, Xu, Jiaquan, Thun, Michael J.
CA Cancer J Clin, Published online before print May 27, 2009
doi: 10.3322/caac.20006


Additional sources: American Cancer Society.

Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD
Copyright: Medical News Today
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