Study finds record drop in cancer death rates in the US from 2016 to 2017

Cancer death rates in the US dropped further year over year than ever between 2016 and 2017, according to the American Cancer Society’s (ACS) new report. 

In 2017, cancer was responsible for 599,108 deaths in the US, 2.2 percent fewer than it killed the year prior. 

During a period when death rates by most other causes were remaining stable or increasing, cancer mortality was a bright spot. 

Although it remains the deadliest cancer, the researchers note that falling smoking rates progress in the treatment of lung cancer played a key role in the historic drop in fatalities from the disease as a whole. 

Cancer mortality rates for men (blue) and women (purple) alike (orange) began falling in the 1990s, and from 2016 to 2017, the American Cancer Society reports a record drop 

Second only to heart disease, cancer is a leading cause of death in the US. 

But it’s no longer the certain death sentence it once was. 

Drive in part by smoking and the continuing fallout of smokers from decades past, cancer rates continued to climb through 1991, then began declining. 

From then through 2017, the cancer death rate fell continuously, plummeting 29 percent in 25 years. 

The rate change meant a total of 2.9 million deaths have been averted since the early 1990s. 

Fewer and fewer new cases of cancer have been been diagnosed each year in the US since 1999, with cases declining about 2.1 percent. 

At long last, the decline in deaths has begun to catch up. 

Lung, colorectal, breast and prostate cancers top the list of the types of the disease for killing the greatest number of Americans.  

Over the past several decades, fatalities from these four forms of cancer have steadily fallen, driving the progress in the broader fight against cancer as a whole. 

But in recent years, those gains have slowed since 2008 as prevention, screening and treatment options reach a stalemate with disease incidence and progression. 

Lung cancer is the exception. 

While it still killed more people than breast, prostate, brain and colorectal cancers combined in 2017, the last decade has finally seen progress against lung cancer. 

In part, this is thanks to declines in smoking. In 2019, the US reached its all-time low for cigarette use.  

Smoking causes the majority of cases of lung cancer, so if the trend continues, Americans can look forward to continued decreases in incidence and death rates from the disease. 

Further, therapies have finally been developed that stand a chance against the tough-to-treat disease. 

Immunotherapies in clinical trials can now bat back lung tumors and metastases in even the late stages of the disease, buying sufferers more time and driving down death rates. 

The study authors note that death rates from melanoma skin cancer have declined rapidly and liver cancer, which had been killing more and more people each year, seems to have finally slowed its lethal march. 

On the heels of their study, the ACS researchers predict that 1,806,590 new cancers will be diagnosed, and 606,520 Americans will die of the disease. 

That estimate represents a slight uptick from 2017, but the increase may not persist when cancer deaths are looked at as a rate compared to all causes of death in the US. 

Cancer deaths remain devastating to the US and the families who lose their loved ones, and the authors note that progress is no reason for doctors or patients to rest on their laurels. 

‘Nevertheless, progress is slowing for cancers that are amenable to early detection through screening (ie, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and [colorectal cancer]), and substantial racial and geographic disparities persist for highly preventable cancers, such as those of the cervix and lung, the ACS authors wrote. 

‘Increased investment in both the equitable application of existing cancer control interventions and basic and clinical research to further advance treatment options would undoubtedly accelerate progress against cancer.’ 

 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk