U.S. Cancer Death Rate Dropping
Published: October 5, 2005
America’s cancer death rate has been dropping since the early 1990s, a new study shows.
That’s “progress,” write the researchers in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
However, they also found a slight rise in women’s cancer cases and ongoing cancer disadvantages in some racial and ethnic groups.
Lung cancer remains the No. 1 cause of cancer deaths for men and women alike, the study shows.
The annual report is a joint project of the American Cancer Society, the CDC, the National Cancer Institute, and the North American Association of Cancer Registries.
America’s Leading Causes of Death are Changing
The drop in overall cancer death rates began in the early 1990s. Before that, reported cancer deaths had risen for more than 60 years, write the National Cancer Institute’s Brenda Edwards, PhD, and colleagues.
Cancer deaths for men and women combined dropped about 1 percent per year from 1993 to 2002, the study shows.
That includes all cancer “sites” (such as the breast, prostate, and colon) combined. It also covers several of the 15 most common cancers.
Death rates dropped for 12 of the 15 most common cancers for men. Those were cancers of the lung, prostate, colon and rectum, pancreas, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, leukemia, bladder, stomach, brain, and oral cavity, as well as myeloma and melanoma.
Death rates also dropped for nine of the 15 most common cancers for women. Those were cancers of the breast, colon and rectum, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, leukemia, brain, stomach, cervix, and bladder, as well as myeloma.
The researchers did not include nonmelanoma skin cancers in their study.
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