Cancer death rates drop across the U.S.

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By

Death rates for all cancers combined have fallen steadily in the United States since the 1990s, including among the four top cancer killers: lung, colon, breast and prostate, a new report by the nation's leading cancer groups said.

The study, called the "Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975 to 2001," found that death rates from all cancers combined dropped 1.1 percent annually from 1993 to 2001.

"This is wonderful. We are really making progress" in fighting cancer, said Ahmedin Jemal, program director of cancer surveillance for the American Cancer Society (ACS), who was the report's lead author.

Dr. Jemal said that the American cancer death rate peaked in 1991, and that from then to 2001, the overall death rate dropped 9 percent to 10 percent.

Authors of the study said the new data reflect factors such as more aggressive prevention, earlier detection, improved treatment and longer survival.

"Survival has really improved," said Brenda Edwards, associate director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), who has worked on the annual cancer studies for the past seven years.

Dr. Edwards said from 1975 to 1979, there was an overall five-year cancer survival rate of 43 percent. By 1995 to 2000, the five-year survival rate had increased to 64 percent.

The annual cancer report is a collaborative effort by NCI, ACS, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries.

"Overall, cancer death rates are declining," Dr. Jemal said. He added that this positive development includes "all cancers combined and the most common types of cancer."

Death rates have fallen in 11 of the top 15 types of cancer afflicting men, he said. They also have dropped in eight of the top 15 types of cancer affecting women.