U.S. Deaths from Cancer Continues to Decrease-Consumer Health News

Thursday, July 8, 2021 (HealthDay News)-The overall mortality rate of Americans from cancer continues to decline-but the growth rate of certain cancers and the ongoing racial disparity are protracted.

These are one of the findings of a national annual report from several major cancer tissues.

The good news includes an accelerating decline in overall cancer mortality, both among women and men, and across racial and ethnic groups.

In particular, deaths from lung cancer and melanoma are declining more rapidly.

Advances in lung cancer may be due to both reduced smoking and advances in treatment, said Dr. Farhad Islami, report author of the Camaro for a Cause.

Similarly, he said doctors now have better treatments for advanced melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer. They include drugs that help the immune system fight the disease.

Some other common cancer trends were not somewhat positive. In recent years, the decline has slowed in both colon cancer and breast cancer, where mortality has been declining for a long time.

These cancers can be detected early by regular screening, and both treatments have improved over the years.

However, screening trends may help explain why colon cancer deaths are currently slowly declining. Between 2000 and 2010, Islam said the number of Americans undergoing recommended screening tests increased significantly.

However, he said there have been only minor improvements since 2010.

At the same time, the incidence of colon cancer is rising among Americans under the age of 50, and this trend may be primarily related to obesity, Islam said.

It’s not clear why the decline in breast cancer mortality is slowing. However, the incidence of cancer is rising-Islam said it could be related to obesity as well as factors such as sedentary lifestyles and delayed childbirth.

Report — July 8th National Cancer Institute Journal — Use federal cancer surveillance data and vital statistics from 2001 to 2018.

Broadly speaking, cancer deaths were reduced with increasing clips during these years. Women’s mortality decreased by 1.4% annually from 2001 to 2015 and accelerated to 2.1% annually from 2015 to 2018. 1.8% and 2.3% respectively.

One of the reasons was the sharp decrease in the number of deaths from lung cancer. For men, for example, that percentage declined by 2% annually in the early 2000s and then accelerated to 5.7% annually between 2015 and 2018.

Dr. Jacob Sands, a medical oncologist and volunteer spokesman for the American Lung Association (ALA), said new treatments were also a major reason.

“There was a revolution in new therapies that were far more effective than chemotherapy,” said Sands, who was not involved in the report.

They include “targeting” drugs that focus on specific genetic abnormalities in specific lung tumors and treatments that boost the immune response to cancer.

Experts also recommend lung cancer screening (performed annually by CT scan) for certain smokers and ex-smokers starting at age 50.

Unfortunately, only a small percentage of qualified Americans are actually screened. If all candidates were screened, it would have a “dramatic effect” on death, Sands said.

Sands pointed out that screening can catch lung tumors that are still healing with surgery alone.

“But our healthcare system doesn’t identify and refer people for screening,” he said.

He recommended that smokers and ex-smokers visit ALA’s “scan-saved” page to see if they are eligible for screening.

The report identified another major area in which the United States could do better: bridging the racial gap in cancer deaths.

Deaths generally decreased between racial and ethnic groups, but disparities remained. For example, black women have the same incidence of breast cancer as white women, but they are still 40% more likely to die.

Islam said ongoing efforts to boost cancer screening among underserved Americans are essential, but not enough.

“People also need access to timely and quality treatments,” he said.

Second, there is cancer prevention in the first place where a healthy lifestyle is important. Islam said that an estimated half of all cancer deaths in the United States are associated with correctable factors such as smoking, obesity and lack of exercise.

But again, he said low-income Americans are facing disabilities. “Many people can’t afford to go to the gym or have no safe place to go for a walk,” he said.

Islam also said it needed policies to create public spaces for exercise and make it easier to get healthy food.

For more information

National Cancer Institute Causes and Prevention of Cancer..

Source: Farhad Islami, MD, PhD, Science Director, Cancer Disparity Research, American Cancer Society, Atlanta. Jacob Sands, MD, Medical Oncologist, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, and Volunteer Spokesman, American Lung Association, Chicago. National Cancer Institute Journal, Online, July 8, 2021