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  • Home > Blog > Cancer > Cancer Rates Fall, but Lung Cancer Still Problematic, Report Says
Posted on Wednesday, Nov 26, 2008

Cancer Rates Fall, but Lung Cancer Still Problematic, Report Says

Source: CNN

A report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute has shown that – for the first time – rates of both cancer deaths and new cancer diagnoses are falling for men and women in America. The report aggregates data from a number of the country’s top medical organizations to show that the battle against cancer is slowly turning in the favor of people and science.

The report states that while deaths from cancer have been falling for a number of years now, this is the first time that a study has shown a similar decrease in the total number of new diagnoses. From 1999 to 2005, the overall rate of new diagnoses dropped 0.8 percent per year. Within the aggregate numbers, the drop was also seen when analyzed in terms of gender. Among men, rates of death and new cases were seen falling for colon cancer, lung cancer and prostate cancer—which are the most common forms of the disease in men—and in women a similar drop was seen in their most common cancers, breast cancer and colon cancer.

However, when the numbers were analyzed in terms of geography, a more complex picture emerged. Even as the overall national numbers showed a decline, the report states that in 18 Southern and Midwestern states, lung cancer incidences and deaths were still increasing. The lead author of the study, Dr. Ahmedin Jemal, attributes this to the higher rate of smoking in these states. Cigarette smoking is involved in upwards of 80% of lung cancer cases and has been implicated in a number of other cancers as well. Overall, cigarette smoking has been declining across the country, but a number of Southern states, especially, have not implemented smoking cessation programs as effectively as have states in the Northeast or the West, so these states still feature higher rates of smoking as compared to the national average.

The full report provides a much more complete overview of the relationship between Americans and cancer deaths and diagnoses than this summary allows, but the report’s authors, as well as those who’ve reviewed its findings, attribute the positive trend lines identified to improvements in the available treatments as well as to stepped-up prevention efforts.