Cancer rates drop in U.S.

Death rates from cancer in the United States have dropped by an average of 2.1% a year from 2002 to 2004, which is on top of a 1.1% average drop per year since 1993. (Source: "U.S. Cancer Death Rates Are Found to Be Falling" NY Times, Oct. 15, 2007.) Much of the progress comes from "improvements in prevention, early detection and treatment of some of the leading causes of cancer death—lung, colorectal, breast and prostate tumors." According to Dr. Richard L. Schilsky, a professor of medicine at the University of Chicago and president-elect of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, "Every 1 percent (drop) is 5,000 people who aren’t dying. That’s a huge sense of progress at this point."

However, the article notes that this drop in death rates isn't equal across all populations in the United States. For men, the average decline in cancer death rates from 2002 to 2004 was 2.6%; for women it was only 1.8%. In addition, "American Indians and Alaska Natives in some regions are not benefiting from the same improvements as the rest of the population and have higher rates of preventable cancers and late-stage tumors that would have had a better prognosis had they been detected sooner."