~from the American Cancer Society
The death rate from cancer in the US has declined steadily over the past two decades, according to annual statistics reporting from the American Cancer Society.
As of 2015, the cancer death rate for men and women combined had fallen 26 percent from its peak in 1991. This decline translates to nearly 2.4 million deaths averted during this time period.
During the most recent decade of available data, the rate of new cancer diagnoses decreased by about 2 percent per year in men and stayed about the same in women.
“Cancer Statistics, 2018,” published in the American Cancer Society’s journal CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, estimates the numbers of new cancer cases and deaths expected in the US this year. The estimates are some of the most widely quoted cancer statistics in the world. The information is also released in a companion report, Cancer Facts and Figures 2018, available on the interactive website, the Cancer Statistics Center.
A total of 1,735,350 new cancer cases and 609,640 deaths from cancer are projected to occur in the US in 2018.
The drop in cancer mortality is mostly due to steady reductions in smoking and advances in early detection and treatment. “This new report reiterates where cancer control efforts have worked, particularly the impact of tobacco control,” said Otis W. Brawley, MD, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society. “A decline in consumption of cigarettes is credited with being the most important factor in the drop in cancer death rates. Strikingly though, tobacco remains by far the leading cause of cancer deaths today, responsible for nearly 3 in 10 cancer deaths.”
Read the entire article at www.cancer.org
