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Senior Citizen Health & Medicine
Decline in Cancer Death Rate Has Doubled Says New
Report
Cancer organizations, CDC join effort to present
good news to the nation
 Oct. 15, 2007 - A new report from the nation’s
leading cancer organizations shows cancer death rates decreased on
average 2.1 percent per year from 2002 through 2004, nearly twice the
annual decrease of 1.1 percent per year from 1993 through 2002. It is
important news for senior citizens, although, as Americans pass age 65
it is heart disease that surges ahead as the greatest death risk.
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Health & Medicine |
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Among the general population, the report shows that
long-term declines in cancer death rates continued through 2004 for both
sexes and, despite overall higher death rates for men, the declines from
2002 through 2004 were 2.6 percent per year among men and 1.8 percent
per year among women.
Death rates decreased for the majority of the top
15 cancers in men and women. Important declines were noted for the three
leading causes of cancer deaths in men: lung, prostate and colorectal
cancers. In women, deaths rates from colorectal cancer and breast cancer
decreased, while the rate of increase for lung cancer deaths slowed
substantially.
“The significant decline in cancer death rates
demonstrates important progress in the fight against cancer that has
been achieved through effective tobacco control, screening, early
detection, and appropriate treatment," said Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) Director, Julie L. Gerberding, M.D. “As a nation,
we must commit to continuing and enhancing these important public health
efforts.”
“The evidence is unmistakable: we are truly turning
the tide in the cancer battle,” said John R. Seffrin, Ph.D., chief
executive officer of the American Cancer Society (ACS). “The gains could
be even greater if everyone in the U.S. had access to essential
healthcare, including primary care and prevention services.”
Overall cancer incidence rates (the rates at which
new cancers are diagnosed) for both sexes and all races combined
declined slightly from 1992 through 2004. Incidence rates for female
breast cancer dropped substantially from 2001 through 2004. This drop is
possibly related to declining use of hormone replacement therapy as well
as the recently reported decline in use of screening mammography.
Also, lung cancer incidence rates in women
stabilized from 1998 through 2004 after long term increases, and in men
the rate declined 1.8 percent per year from the period 1991 through
2004. Colorectal cancer incidence rates decreased by more than 2.0
percent per year for men and women, likely due to prevention through the
removal of precancerous polyps.
The findings are in the “Annual Report to the
Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975-2004, Featuring Cancer in American
Indians and Alaska Natives” published online October 15, 2007 (www.interscience.wiley.com/cancer/report2007)
and appearing in the November 15, 2007, issue of Cancer.
A featured special section provides the most
comprehensive cancer data to date for American Indians and Alaska
Natives (AI/AN) across the United States. Cancer incidence rates among
AI/AN men and women varied two-fold among six geographic regions of the
country.
From 1999 through 2004, AI/AN men from the Northern
Plains region and AI/AN women from Alaska and the Northern and Southern
Plains regions had higher cancer incidence rates than non-Hispanic white
(NHW) men and women in the same areas.
In the Special Feature section of the Report, the
authors found that while the top three cancers for men and for women are
the same for AI/AN and NHW populations, there are important differences
by region and type of cancer, including:
● For all cancers combined, AI/AN incidence rates
were lower in the Southwest and higher in the Plains and Alaska
● Lung and colorectal cancer incidence rates were
highest in the Northern Plains and Alaska and were significantly
elevated in comparison with NHW rates
● The incidence rates for cancers of the kidney,
stomach, liver, cervix and gallbladder were higher in AI/AN than in NHW
populations in all regions combined
● With the exception of Alaska, AI/AN persons
were less likely than NHW persons to be diagnosed with early stages of
colorectal cancer, with the difference being larger in the Southwest,
Northern Plains, and Southern Plains than other regions
● AI/AN women in all regions of the U.S. were
less likely than NHW women to be diagnosed with localized breast cancer.
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New Record Reached in U.S. Life Expectancy
but Heart
Disease Remains Biggest Killer
Child born in 2005 should live to about 78 years of
age, says CDC
Sept. 13, 2007 – The latest government statistics
show longevity in the U.S. has reached a new high – a child born in 2005
can expect to live to almost age 78 (77.9). The study also finds that
heart disease is still the main reason we are dying, although, the death
rate from heart disease dropped significantly from 2004 to 2005 – 3.1%.
But the biggest drop in death risk was from cerebrovascular diseases
(stroke), where the rate dropped 6.8%.
Read
more...
Life Expectancy Improves but Premature Death Risk
Still Significant
Study finds public perceives death risk much lower
that reality
Sept. 4, 2007 - Findings from a new study show that
while mortality rates in the United States have decreased since the
1970s, the risk of premature death for those in their typical working
years, ages 25-64, is still significant - a greater than 1-in-6 chance
for males and a 1-in-9 chance for females of not surviving from age 25
to normal retirement age. These odds are much higher than most
Americans perceive.
Read more...
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“We are firmly committed to addressing cancer
health disparities so that the benefits of decades of research can reach
all Americans,” said National Cancer Institute (NCI) Director John E.
Niederhuber, M.D. “The fact that lung and colorectal cancers rates were
higher in some American Indian and Alaska Native populations points to
the work we still have to do.”
AI/AN populations were more likely to live in
poverty and less likely to have a high school education and health
coverage when compared to NHW persons, all indicators of less access to
cancer prevention and control services. Also, current smoking rates were
high among AI/AN overall, with the highest prevalence among AI/AN in
Alaska and in the Northern Plains; in all regions, more AI/AN than NHW
persons reported being obese; and screening rates for breast,
colorectal, prostate and cervical cancers were lower among AI/AN than
NHW persons.
“We now have an infrastructure in this country for
obtaining high-quality information about new cases of cancer and we can
now describe the successes in cancer interventions and treatment as well
as uncover populations with varying risks and outcomes,” said Holly L.
Howe, Ph.D., executive director of North American Association of Central
Cancer Registries (NAACCR).
“Without this surveillance, we would be
ill-equipped to address the challenges we face in further reducing the
cancer burden.”
The authors report that earlier detection of
disease through screening, improved prognosis through more effective
treatment, tobacco control, and reduction in inequalities in cancer care
all point to the success of the nation’s dedication and focus on
reducing the burden of cancer in the U.S. The study was conducted by
scientists at the CDC, ACS, NCI, which is part of the National
Institutes of Health, and NAACCR, in collaboration with scientists from
the Indian Health Service and Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.
Editor’s Notes:
Espey DK, Wu X, Swan J, Wiggins C, Jim M, Ward E,
Wingo PA, Howe HL, Ries LAG, Miller BA, Jemal A, Ahmed F, Cobb N, Kaur
JS, Edwards BK. Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer,
1975-2004, Featuring Cancer in American Indians and Alaska Natives.
Cancer; Published online, October 15, 2007 (DOI: 10.1002/cncr. 23044);
Print issue date, November 15, 2007.
For more information on this report, visit the
following Web sites:
● To view the full report, go to
http://www.interscience.wiley.com/cancer/report2007
● For a Q&A on this Report, go to
http://cancer.gov/newscenter/pressreleases/ReportNation2007QandA
● For Spanish translations of this press release
and a Q&A, go to
http://cancer.gov/newscenter/pressreleases/ReportNation2007SpanishRelease
● ACS:
http://www.cancer.org
● CDC’s Division of Cancer Prevention and
Control:
http://www.cdc.gov/cancer
● IHS:
www.ihs.gov
● NAACCR:
http://www.naaccr.org
● NCI:
http://www.cancer.gov and the SEER Homepage:
http://www.seer.cancer.gov
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