Ovarian Cancer Rate Not Declining, USA

Main Category: Ovarian Cancer
Article Date: 08 Oct 2005 - 19:00 PDT

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The National Cancer Institute released a report this week stating that "Americans' risk of dying from cancer continues to decline�" This does not apply to ovarian cancer, the fourth leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States reports the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance.

"Women's risk of being diagnosed and dying from ovarian cancer is no less today than it was last year or ten years ago," said Sherry Salway Black, Executive Director of the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance. "Women must not be lulled into a false sense of security when it comes to this deadliest of gynecologic cancers," she added.

All females are at risk for ovarian cancer and it occurs in 1 out of 57 women. It is expected that more than 22,000 women will be diagnosed with the disease in 2005 and an estimated 16,000 women will die from ovarian cancer in 2005. American Indians and Alaska Native women show both a higher ovarian cancer incidence and mortality rate than white American women according to statistics developed by the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program, but not included in NCI's Report to the Nation.

"Research on ovarian cancer is drastically under-funded in relationship to its high death rate," Executive Director Black said. "Until there is an effective way to screen and test for the presence of this dreaded disease, we should be increasing research dollars, not decreasing them," Ms. Black added. "We urge Congress and the Administration to help fund research so a test can be found and women can be diagnosed early and increase their chances to survive this killer cancer."

Funding for ovarian cancer research decreased from fiscal year 2003 to fiscal year 2004 by $7 million. Other than a $1 million decrease for prostate cancer, no other cancer received a decrease in the same time period.

"National Cancer Institute statistics clearly show that the ovarian cancer incidence and mortality rates have been a virtual flat line from 1975 to 2001," said Ms. Black. "We want to see in NCI's next report to the nation, a real downturn in the mortality figures and that will only come if we find a test for early detection."

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