Posted on 05/27/2009 5:56:04 AM PDT by Pharmboy
WEDNESDAY, May 27, 2009 (Health.com) — The death rate due to cancer has declined in the United States in recent years, largely due to better prevention and treatment. In fact, 650,000 lives were spared from cancer between 1990 to 2005, according to new statistics from the American Cancer Society.
During the 15-year period, the cancer death rate among men dropped by 19.2%, mainly due to decreases in lung, prostate, and colon cancer deaths. In women, the cancer death rate fell by 11.4%, largely due to a drop in breast and colorectal cancer deaths.
“This is good news because cancer death rates have continued to decrease since the early 1990s because of prevention and improved treatment for many cancers,” says lead author Ahmedin Jemal, DVM, PhD, the strategic director of cancer surveillance at the American Cancer Society in Atlanta. “We have to be optimistic based on the trends. We are on the right track.”
The findings are published in the July/August issue of CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.
Despite the optimism, however, there is still much work to be done to win the war on cancer, experts stress. There will be close to 1.5 million new cancer diagnoses in the U.S. in 2009, and 562,340 people are expected to die of the disease. This means that more than 1,500 people will die of cancer each day in 2009; the most common lethal cancers in men and women are lung, prostate, breast, and colon cancers.
A drop in HRT leads to a decline in breast cancer cases The decrease in deaths from breast cancer accounted for 37% of the reduction in the death rate among women during the 15-year period.
“Any life spared from cancer or serious illness is a victory, but success comes in little steps—one life at a time,” says Marisa Weiss, MD, the president and founder of advocacy group Breastcancer.org and the author of several books, including Taking Care of Your Girls: A Breast Health Guide for Girls, Teens, and In-Betweens. Dr. Weiss is also the director of breast radiation oncology and breast health outreach at Lankenau Hospital in Wynnewood, Penn.
“It’s great news that a large chunk of the decreased death rates in women can be attributed to breast cancer,” she says. This is largely due to a decreased use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), which has been shown to increase a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer. HRT fell from grace after a large government-funded study known as the Women’s Health Initiative was stopped early because the risks of HRT, including an increased risk of breast cancer, greatly outnumbered the benefits of the therapy.
Another reason for the decline in breast cancer deaths, however, is delayed diagnosis due to the fact that many women are not getting their yearly X-ray or mammogram.
“Fewer women are getting mammography and that’s why fewer women are getting diagnosed with breast cancer, so eventually that will come back and bite us in the rear end,” Dr. Weiss says.
Black women continue to die of breast cancer at a greater rate than their white counterparts, she points out.
What’s more, the current obesity epidemic may fuel a rise in the rates.
“Fat makes extra hormones, which lead to extra cell activity and extra abnormal cell activity,” she says. “Fat is a storing facility for hormonally active pollutants, so if you are overweight, you’re more likely to hold on to some chemicals in the environment that enter your body from food and water.”
And that’s not all: “Fat brings on puberty earlier and early puberty is a risk factor for breast cancer,” Dr. Weiss says.
“These areas of disappointment are areas of opportunity,” she adds. But greater efforts are needed to encourage healthy eating and exercise to help combat obesity, especially in adolescents, she says.
Another encouraging sign is a drop in colorectal cancer deaths due to better and more widespread screening.
“Colorectal cancer screening saves lives because it detects cancer at early stages when treatment is more effective, and it also removes precancerous lesions,” says Jemal. The current recommendation for people at average risk of colon cancer is to screen every year, starting at age 50.
Not all good news Death rates from breast and colon cancers are falling, but the death rates from pancreatic (women), liver (men and women), and esophageal cancer (men) are increasing—largely because of the obesity epidemic. Among men, death rates for the fatal form of skin cancer melanoma are also on the rise.
Although there has been a decrease in lung cancer deaths among men (due to smoking-cessation efforts), the death rates for women with lung cancer are still on the rise. Lung cancer is expected to account for 16% of all cancer deaths in women in 2009, according to the new statistics.
“We haven’t seen a decrease here yet, but cigarette smoking in women peaked about 20 years later than it did in men,” Jemal says. He predicts a decrease in lung cancer deaths in women in the next 15 to 20 years.
Socialized medical rationing should be able to reverse that trend.
Can we stop the cancer walks/races now?
“Can we stop the cancer walks/races now?”
It’s nice to know I’m not the only person who thinks cancer walks are really strange.
Cancer might be down, but the peanut allergies are really getting out of hand.
LOL!! You ain’t kiddin’...
According to Snarling Arlen, that’s um-possible! Evil
Republicans prevented spending on cancer treatments/cures.
It’s nice to know I’m not the only person who thinks cancer walks are really strange.
It's the ongoing victimization of America. We're all special now!
I've survived a somewhat rare cancer. There is no cure, there is not even a race for a cure.
Or are these five year survival figures? I don't know what it means.
To me it should mean that looking at the causes of all deaths these cancers are dropping by these percentages but that means that something else is taking up the slack.
I know you jest, but liberals will ignore the good news and call out a few points in this article to support socialized medicine. For example:
During the 15-year period, the cancer death rate among men dropped by 19.2%, mainly due to decreases in lung, prostate, and colon cancer deaths. In women, the cancer death rate fell by 11.4%, largely due to a drop in breast and colorectal cancer deaths.
To the warp minded Liberal, this shows an inequity in the system that men where cured at a higher rate. Only government intervention can reverse this discrimination by insuring more men die....
Black women continue to die of breast cancer at a greater rate than their white counterparts, she points out.
More government to insure more white and Hispanic women die of breast cancer
What’s more, the current obesity epidemic may fuel a rise in the rates.
Government tax on soda...
Among men, death rates for the fatal form of skin cancer melanoma are also on the rise.
More government to prevent Ozone depletion...
“I’ve survived a somewhat rare cancer.”
I’m hoping to surivive a somewhat common one. But there aren’t any “walks for . . .” coming for ModelBreaker.
What a nonsensical sentence. If you don't get screened you don't die? If you don't get diagnosed you don't die? Huh?
Look what Obama has done already! Isn’t he wonderful?
“I do not understand the significance of these numbers.”
The figures are age-specific death rates per 100,000 in a given year, which obviously never equal 100% (except maybe for 120-year-olds). You’re right that in principle, cancer rates could be declining as rates from another cause of death rise, but that’s not typically how this works. That is, if the cancer death rate for 50-59 year old males declines, it typically means that the “survivors” (whether these be people actually cured of cancer or people who averted cancer in the first place through early detection or prevention) live added years. Yes, they may eventually die of something else, but the fact that they didn’t die of cancer does mean they gained extra years of life. So even though everyone faces a 100% chance of death eventually, the issue is how many years they live before dying. Eliminating or reducing a cause of death from a particular cause invariably increases life expectancy, even if only a small amount.
“What a nonsensical sentence.”
I think the reporter—who obviously wasn’t a science or math whiz—inappropriately extrapolated from the doctor’s statement about why the number of breast cancer cases has declined and assumed it would apply equally well to deaths. I assume the doctor’s statement (that bc cases have declined due to less screening) is correct, but the reporter’s inference is, as you say, nonsensical.
A double major in Journalism and Womyn's Studies with a Kwanzaa Appreciation minor will do that.
I’ll just be one of the CDC statistics to screw up their breast cancer statistics dying at the age of 52 considering that the state of Idaho has denied my request for medicaid and I do not have medical insurance since I am an insulin dependent diabetic and my husband is 75. C’est la vie.
Sorry to hear that. Don’t know if this might be of any help.
Hard-to-Insure Find Novel Way to Get Coverage
Group Health Plans Available to as Few as One Employee; How to Prove You’re Legit
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124338117660756415.html
Good luck.
So sorry about your situation.
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