Cancer Death Rates in U.S. Fall 20 Percent Since 1991

Emma Stone, Vanessa Williams, Tom Hanks and Samuel L. Jackson were among the Hollywood stars, who came together to "stand up to cancer" in a social innovation video on World Cancer Day this February 4 2013. This heartfelt info-commercial showed that when cancer strikes, it touches and affects us all in some way; whether it's through a friend or a loved one. According to the World Health Organisation cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for 7.6 million deaths (around 13% of all deaths) in 2008. While, lung, stomach, liver, colon and breast cancer cause the most cancer deaths annually and that the most frequent types of cancer differ between men and women.

Thankfully, there is some good news for cancer figures in the U.S.  The American Cancer Society's annual Cancer Statistics report published in January 2013, one of the most widely-cited medical publications in the world showed that the overall death rate for cancer rates in America have fallen 20 per cent from its peak in 1991!

This organisation estimates annually the numbers of new cancer cases and deaths expected in the U.S. 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 the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, and mortality data from the National Centre for Health Statistics. From 2000 through 2009, cancer death rates decreased by 1.8 per cent per year among men and by 1.4 per cent per year among women. Thankfully the death rates among children up to 14 years of age also continued to drop by 1.8 per cent per year.

This report finds that cancer death rates continue to decline for all four major cancers: lung, colon and **** (colorectum), breast, and prostate. These large drops are primarily due to reductions in smoking for lung cancer and to improvements in early detection and treatment for colorectal, breast, and prostate cancers. Among women, the three most commonly diagnosed types of cancer this year will be breast, lung and bronchus and colorectum, accounting for about half of all cases. Breast cancer alone is expected to account for 29% of all new cancer cases among women. While, for men in the U.S. a total of 1,660,290 new cancer cases and 580,350 cancer deaths are projected to occur this year; the cancers are probably going to be prostate, lung and bronchus, and colorectum; prostate cancer alone will account for 28% of incident cases in men.

As encouraging as these fall in statistic are in America, further progress can be made across all sections of the country's population, with an emphasis on those groups in the lowest socioeconomic bracket and under-served communities. John R. Seffrin, Ph.D., CEO of the American Cancer Society says, "The continuing drop in cancer mortality over the past two decades is good news. The challenge we face is how to continue those gains in the face of new obstacles, like obesity and HPV infections. We must face these hurdles head on."

Photo Credit: American Cancer Society