Cancer & Cancer Death Rates Down in U.S.
A new U.S. study has found the number of men and women in the U.S. getting and dying from cancer has dropped for the first time since statistics were released in 1998.
The study points out the drop in cancer rates is mostly due to fewer cases of lung, prostate and colorectal cancer among men and fewer cases of breast and colorectal cancer in women. Furthermore, the number of women dying from lung cancer has leveled off since 2003.
Nevertheless, the study suggests that by paying more attention to health-related behaviors, such as not smoking, the cancer rate would drop even more. There are 43 million Americans who smoke and a third of all cancers is caused by smoking, the study adds.
The study found that from 1999 to 2005, the rate for all cancers among men and women dropped 0.8 per cent a year. Among men, the rate dropped by 1.8 per cent and for women it was 0.6 per cent a year.
For men, the rate of prostate cancer descreased by 4.4 per cent a year from 2001 to 2005. But the rate of cancer of the liver, kidney, and esophagus as well as melanoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma increased.
For women, the rate of breast colorectal, uterine, ovarian, cervical and oral cancers dropped while there were increases in cancer of the lung, thyroid, pancreas, brain/nervous system, bladder and kidney as well as leukemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma increased.
In addition to lung cancer, smoking causes cancer of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, stomach, bladder, pancreas, liver and kidney as well as uterus, cervix and myeloid leukemia.
