According to a new report from the American Cancer Society, cancer is claiming the lives of fewer Americans than ever before. In the past two decades cancer death rates have dropped significantly by 22%, sparing the lives of over 1.5 million people in the United States alone.
While cancer death rates have declined in every state, the report found substantial variation in the magnitude of the declines from state to state. Generally, states in the south showed the smallest decline, while states in the northeast had the largest decline. States in the south experienced drops in death rates of about 15%, with rates much higher in other parts of the country.
Rapid increase in lung cancer deaths drove the death rate higher and higher in the 20th century, peeking in 1991, researchers say. Since that time, the rate has been declining due to fewer Americans smoking, as well as, advances in cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment.
During the most recent five years of available data (2007-2011), the average annual decline in cancer death rates was 1.8% for men and 1.4% for women. These declines are driven by decreases in death rates for four major cancers: lung, breast, prostate and colon.
Lung cancer rates declined by 36% between 1990 and 2011 among males and 11% for females between 2002 and 2011 due to reduced tobacco use. Breast cancer death rates are down more than one-third (35%) from its peak rates while prostate and colon cancer death rates are down by almost half (47%), according to the report.
The report estimates that there will be just over 1.6 million new cancer cases with 589,430 deaths in the United States in 2015.
About one-half of all cases in men will be the result of prostate, lung and colorectal cancers, with prostate cancer alone accounting for about one-quarter of new diagnoses. In women, the three most commonly diagnosed cancers will be breast, lung and colorectal cancer; accounting for one-half of all cases in women.
While cancer rates are on the decline, the fight against cancer has come with a price. In 2009, the overall cost of cancer treatment was $216.6 billion, according to the National Institutes of Health. These rates are expected to continue to rise over the coming years despite the decline in cancer death rates. Researchers continue to work to improve cancer detection, prevention and treatment, and hope to reduce the death rates from cancer even more, while also reigning in the costs of treatments in the future.
