Less smoking and more testing see cancer deaths continue steep decline

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From 1991 to 2015, the cancer death rate dropped about 1.5 per cent a year, resulting in a total decrease of 26 per cent — about 2.4 million fewer deaths than would have occurred had the rate remained at its peak.

The American Cancer Society predicts that in 2018, there will be about 1.7 million new cases of cancer and 609,640 deaths.

The latest report on cancer statistics appears in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.

The most common cancers — in men, tumours of the prostate; in women, breast — are not the most common causes of cancer death. Although prostate cancer accounts for 19 per cent of cancers in men and breast cancer for 30 per cent of cancers in women, the most common cause of cancer death in both sexes is lung cancer, which accounts for one-quarter of cancer deaths in both sexes.  

Although prostate cancer accounts for 19 per cent of cancers in men and breast cancer for 30 per cent of cancers in women, the most common cause of cancer death in both sexes is lung cancer

In women, 14 per cent of deaths are from breast cancer, seven per cent from pancreatic cancer and five per cent from cancer of the ovaries.

In men, prostate cancer causes nine per cent of deaths, while seven per cent are due to pancreatic cancer and six per cent to liver cancer. In both sexes, eight per cent of deaths are from colon and rectal cancer. 

Cancer incidence in men rose sharply in the 1990s because of the widespread use of PSA testing, which detected large numbers of asymptomatic prostate cancers. Rates of lung cancer in women are now approaching the levels in men.

During the past decade, cancer incidence in men has dropped by about two per cent a year, while it has remained the same in women. There are two reasons, researchers said.

First, there has been a decline in male lung cancer because fewer men are smoking, and a decline in colorectal cancer because of men’s increasing use of colonoscopy. Second, from 2008-13, prostate cancer diagnoses declined with the decreasing use of PSA testing.

“We’re making progress in reducing death rates from cancer because of improvements in treatment and early detection,” said the senior author, Ahmedin Jemal, a vice president of the American Cancer Society. “But prevention is the low-hanging fruit. We still have 40 million adult smokers in the U.S., which accounts for nearly a third of cancer deaths.”

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