American Cancer Society Reports Continued Reduction In Cancer Mortality

More Than A Million Deaths Avoided Since Rates Began To Drop

By Dell Hill


The American Cancer Society's annual cancer statistics report shows that between 2004 and 2008, overall cancer incidence rates declined by 0.6% per year in men and were stable in women, while cancer death rates decreased by 1.8% per year in men and by 1.6% per year in women.
   
The report, Cancer Statistics 2012, published online ahead of print in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians says over the past 10 years of available data (1999-2008), cancer death rates have declined in men and women of every racial/ethnic group with the exception of American Indians/Alaska Natives, among whom rates have remained stable. The reduction in overall cancer death rates since 1990 in men and 1991 in women translates to the avoidance of more than a million total deaths from cancer during that time period.   

Each year, the American Cancer Society estimates the numbers of new cancer cases and deaths expected in the United States in the current year and compiles the most recent data on cancer incidence, mortality, and survival based on incidence data from the National Cancer Institute and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as reported by the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, and mortality data from the National Center for Health Statistics.  Cancer Facts & Figures 2012, the report's accompanying consumer publication, includes a Special Section each year, which in 2012 focuses on cancers with increasing incidence rates.
   
Other highlights include

• A total of 1,638,910 new cancer cases and 577,190 deaths from cancer are projected to occur in the United States in 2012.
• The most rapid declines in death rates occurred among African American and Hispanic men (2.4% and 2.3% per year, respectively).
• Death rates continue to decline for all four major cancer sites (lung, colorectum, breast, and prostate), with lung cancer accounting for almost 40% of the total decline in men and breast cancer accounting for 34% of the total decline in women.
• About 1,024,400 cancer deaths (732,900 in men and 291,500 in women) were averted from 1991/1992 through 2008 as a result of 18 years of consistent declines in cancer death rates.
• Cancer incidence and death rates vary considerably among racial and ethnic groups. For all cancer sites combined, African American men have a 15% higher incidence rate and a 33% higher death rate than white men, whereas African American women have a 6% lower incidence rate but a 16% higher death rate than white women.
• Compared with whites, African American men and women have poorer survival once cancer is diagnosed. The 5-year relative survival is lower in African Americans than in whites for every stage of diagnosis for nearly every type of cancer.
• Cancer incidence and death rates are lower in other racial and ethnic groups than in whites and African Americans for all cancer sites combined and for the four most common cancer sites.  However, incidence and death rates for cancers related to infectious agents, such as those of the uterine cervix, stomach, and liver, are generally higher in minority populations than in whites.
• Further progress can be accelerated by applying existing cancer control knowledge across all segments of the population, with an emphasis on those groups in the lowest socioeconomic bracket.”

Read the entire report by clicking right here.

Dell’s Bottom Line:  

A drop of just over one percent doesn’t seem like much, but it’s certainly headed in the right direction.  For that we are thankful.

There’s also very encouraging news from research and development agencies of late that gives hope for the prevention and/or cure for this deadly disease, which affects us all.  Each of us, it seems, is either directly affected or we know someone who is.