Death from Cancer Cases Continue to Decline in US

The mortality rates and new cancer cases have decreased dramatically in the past years. The diagnosis rate of cancer has been decreasing by about 1 percent every year from 1999 to 2006. Mortality rates decreased an average of 1.5 to 2 percent between men and women between 2001 and 2006.

These declines are attributed to the drop in death rates from the more common cancers such as lung, prostate and colorectal in men and breast and colorectal in women. Breast cancer rates have been dropping at an average of 1.2 percent per year from 1997 to 2006. Though some cancer types have been decreasing, some have actually been increasing. For men, kidney and liver cancer rates have been increasing while prostate, lung, and bronchus oral cavity cancers have been decreasing. Similarly for women, lung, thyroid, pancreas, and urinary bladder cancers have been increasing. Also reported in both genders, leukemia and melanoma rates have been increasing.

These findings are reported by researchers from the National Cancer Institute, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Cancer Society, and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/12/07/cancer.deaths.down/index.html