Cancer Deaths drop in US for first time in 73 years!

For more than a decade, health statisticians have charted annual drops of about 1 percent in the cancer death rate — the calculated number of deaths per 100,000 people. But the actual number of cancer deaths still rose each year because the growth in total population outpaced the falling death rates.

The breast cancer death rate has been dropping about 2 percent annually since 1990

The colon and rectum cancer death rate, shrinking by 2 percent each year since 1984

The prostate cancer death rate has been declining 4 percent annually since 1994

Cancer deaths decline for first time in 70 years
Experts attribute the drop to less smoking, better detection and treatment
AP Associated Press
Updated: 12:02 a.m. ET Feb. 9, 2006

ATLANTA - For the first time in more than 70 years, annual cancer deaths in the United States have fallen, a turning point in the war on cancer likely achieved by declines in smoking and better tumor detection and treatment.

The number of cancer deaths dropped to 556,902 in 2003, down from 557,271 the year before, according to a recently completed review of U.S. death certificates by the National Center for Health Statistics.

“Even though it’s a small amount, it’s an important milestone,” said Dr. Michael Thun, who directs epidemiological research for the American Cancer Society.


It’s the first annual decrease in total cancer deaths since 1930, according to a cancer society analysis of federal death data.

For more than a decade, health statisticians have charted annual drops of about 1 percent in the cancer death rate — the calculated number of deaths per 100,000 people. But the actual number of cancer deaths still rose each year because the growth in total population outpaced the falling death rates.

“Finally, the declining rates have surpassed the increasing size of the population,” said Rebecca Siegel, a Cancer Society epidemiologist.

Experts are attributing the success to declines in smoking and the earlier detection and more effective treatment of tumors. Death rates have fallen for lung, breast, prostate and colorectal cancer, according to American Cancer Society officials, who analyzed the federal death data.

Those are the four most common cancers, which together account for 51 percent of all U.S. cancer deaths.

The breast cancer death rate has been dropping about 2 percent annually since 1990, a decline attributed to earlier detection and better treatment. The colon and rectum cancer death rate, shrinking by 2 percent each year since 1984, is also attributed to better screening. The prostate cancer death rate has been declining 4 percent annually since 1994, though the reasons for that are still being studied.

The lung cancer death rate for men, dropping about 2 percent a year since 1991, is because of reductions in smoking. The lung cancer death rate for women, however, has held steady, a sign that reflects a lag in the epidemic among women, who took up smoking later.

The total number of cancer deaths among women actually rose by 409 from 2002 to 2003. Among men, deaths fell by 778, resulting in a net decrease of 369 total cancer deaths.

With such a small drop in deaths, it’s possible they will rise again when 2004 data is tabulated, said Jack Mandel, chairman of epidemiology at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health.

Cancer is diagnosed more often in older people than younger people, and the large and aging population of Baby Boomers may push cancer statistics a bit. Even so, that should be offset by treatment improvements and declines in smoking and cancer incidence.

“I still think we’re going to see a decline,” Mandel said.

The drop in cancer deaths will be cheered by many in the medical community, said Arthur Caplan, a University of Pennsylvania bioethicist.

“The war on cancer” has not always gone well in the public’s eyes, Caplan noted. Despite decades of scientific research and screening campaigns, radiation and chemotherapy cancer treatments remained harsh and total deaths continued to rise, he noted.

“It’s no surprise this dip in numbers would be greeted with joy by ‘the commanders,’ if you will, in the war on cancer,” Caplan said.

But genetics research and other recent scientific innovations, coupled with the decline in deaths, may be a legitimate cause for celebration, he added.

“This number shows that, perhaps, a corner has been turned,” Caplan said.

Deaths by specific cancers

Here is a look at the most common cancers and the deaths they caused in 2003.
— Lung: Men, 89,964; Women, 68,122
— Colon, rectum: Men, 28,007; Women, 27,951
— Breast: Men, 380; Women, 41,620
— Prostate: Men, 29,554

Source: National Center for Health Statistics

Society Report Describes Historic Drop in Cancer Deaths
Special Focus: Environmental Pollutants and Cancer

Article date: 2006/02/09

A new milestone in the fight against cancer is documented in an annual American Cancer Society report released today. It shows that the actual number of Americans who died of cancer dropped below the count for the previous year, based on records from 2003 and 2002, the most recent data available. This drop in actual cancer deaths comes in spite of a larger and older US population, according to the report Cancer Facts & Figures 2006.

"For years we've proudly pointed to dropping cancer death rates even as a growing and aging population meant more actual deaths," said John Seffrin, PhD, American Cancer Society chief executive officer. "Now, for the first time, the advances we've made in prevention, early detection, and treatment are outpacing even the population factors that in some ways obscured that success."

The death rate from all cancers combined has been falling in the US since 1991, according to other reports. Death rates are considered a good measure of progress against cancer. They compare apples to apples…measuring, for example, the percentage of all men who died of prostate cancer in 2003 compared with that same measurement in 2002.

Cancer Projections for 2006

While the actual number of cancer deaths is projected to drop again in 2006, the number of new cancer cases is expected to rise in the coming year, due largely to a bigger and older US population.

The authors of Cancer Facts & Figures project that in 2006 approximately 1.4 million Americans will be diagnosed with cancer and 565,000 will die of the disease. About a third of these deaths will be related to tobacco use, and another third will be related to nutrition, physical activity, or being overweight or obese. Almost all of these deaths could be prevented.

Many cancers, such as those of the breast, colon, rectum, cervix, prostate, oral cavity, and skin can be found early with screening tests, when treatment is most likely to be effective.

Notes About Lung, Breast, Prostate, and Colon Cancers

Lung cancer is still expected to be the leading cancer killer in both men and women in 2006, with 87% of those deaths linked to smoking. The report lists 15 different types of cancer that are related to tobacco use, from nasopharynx to kidney to acute myeloid leukemia. Other highlights of the report include:


==> Incidence and death rates from lung cancer continue to decrease in men. Among women the lung cancer incidence rate has leveled off but death rates continue to increase. Lung cancer remains the top cause of cancer death in the U.S, with an estimated 174,470 new cases and 162,460 deaths expected this year.

==> Breast cancer remains the most common cancer other than skin cancer among women in the U.S., with an estimated 212,920 new cases and 40,970 deaths expected in 2006. Despite increasing incidence (seen mainly in older women), the death rate from breast cancer continues to fall.

==> Prostate cancer is the most common cancer other than skin cancer among men in the U.S., with an estimated 234,460 new cases and 27,350 deaths expected in 2006. Although death rates have decreased since the early 1990s, rates in African-American men remain more than twice as high as rates in white men.

==> Colon and rectum cancer combined are the third most common cancer in both men and women, with 148,610 new cases projected in 2006. Incidence rates decreased by 1.8% per year during 1998-2002, partly reflecting an increase in screening exams and polyp removal, which prevents polyps from turning into cancer.

"Colon cancer screening is probably one of the most underused ways to save one's life from cancer that exists," said Michael Thun, MD, vice president of epidemiology and surveillance for the American Cancer Society. He noted a rise in the use of colon cancer early detection tests is one important reason for the falling incidence rates.

"But we have a long way to go on this screening. Only about half of people are getting screened and it's low across the board but it's particularly low in people who lack health insurance and have other obstacles that make it especially hard," said Thun.

Environmental Pollutants and Cancer

A special section in Cancer Facts and Figures 2006 covers environmental pollutants (mainly air pollution) and cancer. The authors explain that scientists consider many factors to be possible environmental causes of cancer, including tobacco use, poor nutrition, inactivity, obesity, certain infectious diseases, sunlight, workplace and air pollutants, and more. "Basically everything that affects the genes you inherit from your parents," said Thun. Public interest, though, focuses more on pollutants in the air or workplace.

"Cancer researchers estimate that about 75-80% of cancer cases and deaths are due to environmental factors in the broad sense, but a much smaller percentage relates to pollutants," Thun explained.

Exposure to pollutants on the job is thought to account for about 4% of all cancer deaths; exposure to environmental pollutants (both man-made and naturally occurring) account for about 2% of cancer deaths. Together, that 6% represents approximately 33,900 deaths in the US each year.

The section describes how researchers identify and evaluate possible cancer-causing substances. It goes on to discuss asbestos and radon and how people could be exposed to unsafe levels of these air pollutants indoors.

The authors also discuss outdoor air pollutants, including fine particulates, a type of air pollution often present in urban air, which has been linked with lung cancer and more strongly with heart and lung disease.

Also included is a section on secondhand tobacco smoke. It describes the lung cancer risk from secondhand smoke, which contains more than 50 known or suspected carcinogens. And Thun added a wider perspective on the health risks to non-smokers: "Secondhand smoke, in addition to causing about 3,000 lung cancer deaths, causes heart disease. In terms of absolute numbers of deaths the estimate for heart disease is about 35,000 deaths per year.”

Looking at all environmental factors in the broadest sense, the authors noted that it is possible to change some of these factors, unlike the DNA people inherit from their parents. People can and do quit smoking, for instance, which can lower their cancer risk.


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ACS News Center stories are provided as a source of cancer-related news and are not intended to be used as press releases.