Cancer death rate drop spares 1.5 million Americans: report

A 22 per cent drop in cancer death rates during the past two decades has spared the lives of over 1.5 million people in US, according to a new report.
While cancer death rates have declined in every state, the American Cancer Society's annual cancer statistics report found substantial variation in the magnitude of these declines, generally with the states in the south showing the smallest decline and in the northeast the largest decline.
Largely driven by rapid increases in lung cancer deaths among men as a consequence of the tobacco epidemic, the overall cancer death rate rose during most of the 20th century, peaking in 1991, researchers said.

The subsequent, steady decline in the cancer death rate is the result of fewer Americans smoking, as well as advances in cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment.
During the most recent five years for which data are available (2007-2011), the average annual decline in cancer death rates was slightly larger among men (1.8 per cent) than women (1.4 per cent).
These declines are driven by continued decreases in death rates for the four major cancer sites: lung, breast, prostate, and colon.

Lung cancer death rates declined 36 per cent between 1990 and 2011 among males and 11 per cent between 2002 and 2011 among females due to reduced tobacco use.

Death rates for breast cancer (among women) are down more than one-third (35 per cent) from peak rates, while prostate and colorectal cancer death rates are each down by nearly half (47 per cent), the report said.
The magnitude of the decline in overall cancer mortality between 1991 and 2011 varied by state. The smallest declines were generally in the South, where drops were about 15 per cent.
The report estimates there will be 1,658,370 new cancer cases and 589,430 cancer deaths in the US in 2015.
Prostate, lung, and colorectal cancers will account for about one-half of all cases in men, with prostate cancer alone accounting for about one-quarter of new diagnoses.

The three most commonly diagnosed types of cancer among women in 2015 will be breast, lung, and colorectal cancer, accounting for one-half of all cases in women.