Encouraging Trend: New Evidence Says Rates Of Cancer Deaths Are On The Decline

There a few reasons why the death rate from cancer has been on the decline over the last 30 years. Speaking to SurvivorNet in 2018, Dr. Michael Kastan, executive director of the Duke Cancer Institute, said that "investment into basic science and clinical research led to a tremendous increase in our understanding of what causes cancer and how cancer cells differ from normal cells. These insights led to more effective approaches to prevention (especially smoking cessation programs), more effective screening programs (including colonoscopies, mammography, and PSA testing), and more effective and less toxic treatments."

Dr. Kastan was referencing the American Association for Cancer Research report which hand found cancer death rates had been on the decline between 1991-2013, findings which dovetail with the CDC’s new information out this week.

That new information is certainly consistent with what we know of the death rate from cancer in the United States. “Death rate is going down for cancers, the rate of cancer overall,” Dr. Heather Yeo told SurvivorNet about the AARC report in 2018.

But even while the death rate decreases, “the number of people in the united states that are afflicted with cancer continues to rise,” Dr. Yeo continued. “So, I think that, while we are making headway on cancer treatment, it’s important to know that the number of people suffering from cancer continues to go up.”

She added that the decrease in death rate isn’t a reason to stop funding cancer research and working toward a cure. “It’s good news that we’re living longer with cancer, but it also means that we need to continue to search for a cure for cancers.”

“The decline in the cancer death rate was greater for 1999 to 2007 and 2014 to 2017 (each 1.5 percent annually) than for 2007 to 2014 (0.5 percent annually),” the study reports.

Researchers on the CDC study used information from death certificates filed in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia from 1999 to 2017. The information had been collected and processed by the National Center for Health Statistics through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program, using death certificates generally completed by funeral directors, attending physicians, medical examiners, and coroners.

Gender Breakdown

For men, the rate was down from 247.0 cancer-related deaths out of every 100,000 deaths in 1999, to 197.4 cancer-related deaths out of ever 100,000 in 2017, which represents a 20% decline.

The cancer death rate for women aged 4564 declined 17% from 1999 to 2017, beginning at 204.1 cancer related deaths for every 100,000, and ending at 168.5. The years 1999 to 2008 saw greater declines in the average annual percentage, than for the 2008 to 2017 period.

Race and Ethnicity Breakdown

From 1999 to 2017, the death rate from cancer for non-Hispanic black men declined 34 percent. The number of cancer related deaths was recorded at 387.2 out of 100,000 deaths in 1999, and at 254.5 in 2017.

For Hispanic men, the cancer death rate was 23 percent lower in 2017 than in 1999.

For non-Hispanic black women aged 4564, cancer death rates declined by 18 percent, from 264.9 in 1999 to 216.5 in 2017. The most significant decline occurred between 1999 and 2008.

For non-Hispanic white women, cancer death rates declined 14 percent from 207.6 in 1999 to 177.8 in 2017.

The cancer death rate for Hispanic women aged 45 to 64 declined from 122.5 in 1999 to 109.4 in 2008, and then stabilized from 2008 to 2017.

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