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Overall Cancer Cases and Deaths on the Decline, Especially in Men

New diagnosed cases of cancer and the overall death rate from all cancers combined declined significantly in the most recent reporting period for men and women overall and for most racial and ethnic populations in the United States, according to a report from leading health and cancer organizations.

The drops are driven largely by declines in rates of new cases and rates of death for the three most common cancers in men (lung, prostate, and colorectal cancers) and for two of the three leading cancers in women (breast and colorectal cancer).

New diagnoses for all types of cancer combined in the United States decreased, on average, almost 1% per year from 1999 to 2006. Cancer deaths decreased 1.6% per year from 2001 to 2006.

These findings are from a report written by researchers from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the American Cancer Society (ACS), and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR). The report was published in the medical journal Cancer.

Overall cancer rates continue to be higher for men than for women, but men experienced the greatest declines in incidence (new cases) and mortality (death) rates. For colorectal cancer, the third most frequently diagnosed cancer in both men and women, and the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, overall rates are declining, but increasing incidence in men and women under age 50 is of concern, the report said.

The report’s authors used modeling projections of colorectal cancer rates to find that with accelerated cancer control efforts that encourage more Americans to adopt more favorable health behaviors (such as quitting smoking) and higher use of screening (such as colonoscopy), as well as optimal treatment outcomes for colorectal cancer (such as more effective chemotherapy), there could be an overall colorectal cancer mortality reduction of 50% by 2020.

Other highlights from the report show that in men, incidence rates have declined for cancers of the prostate, lung, oral cavity, stomach, brain, colon and rectum, but continue to rise for kidney/renal, liver, and esophageal cancer, as well as for leukemia, myeloma and melanoma.

In women, incidence rates decreased for breast, colorectal, uterine, ovarian, cervical and oral cavity cancers, but increased for lung, thyroid, pancreatic, bladder, and kidney cancers, as well as for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, melanoma and leukemia.

"The continued decline in overall cancer rates documents the success we have had with our aggressive efforts to reduce risk in large populations, to provide for early detection, and to develop new therapies that have been successfully applied in this past decade," said NCI Director Dr. John E. Niederhuber. "Yet we cannot be content with this steady reduction in incidence and mortality. We must, in fact, accelerate our efforts to get individualized diagnoses and treatments to all Americans and our belief is that our research efforts and our vision are moving us rapidly in that direction."

Among racial/ethnic groups, cancer death rates were highest in black men and women and lowest in Asian/Pacific Islander men and women. Although trends in death rates by race/ ethnicity were similar for most cancer sites, death rates from pancreatic cancer, the fourth most common cause of cancer death in the United States, increased among white men and women but decreased among black men and women.

The three leading causes of cancer death for all men, with the exception of Asian/Pacific Islanders, were lung, prostate and colorectal cancer. Lung, liver and colorectal cancers were the top three causes of cancer death in Asian/Pacific Islander men.

For women, the three leading causes of cancer death were lung, breast and colorectal cancer for all racial/ethnic groups except Hispanic women, for whom breast cancer ranked first.

The differences and fluctuations in death rates by racial/ethnic group, sex, and cancer site may reflect differences in risk behaviors, socioeconomic status, and access to and use of screening and treatment.

"The continued decline in incidence and death rates for all cancers combined is extremely encouraging, but progress has been more limited for certain types of cancer, including many cancers that are currently less amenable to screening, such as cancer of esophagus, liver and pancreas," said Betsy Kohler, executive director of NAACCR. 

(Article courtesy of ConsumerAffairs.com)

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