Good news, cancer on the decline

Since the 1990's cancer deaths have continued to decline, but the rates still remain higher among the poor and less well educated demographics.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - According to a study reported online in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, Dr. Ahmedin Jemal and his colleagues reported the death rate for cancer was 147.85 per 100,000 for those who had completed high school and 55.92 for those with at least four years in college.

For women, the rates were lower for those with high school diplomas at 119.38 per 100,000 but also slightly higher in the college demographic at 59.13 per 100,000. Lung cancer produced the greatest disparity between the sexes with men doing measurably better than women at a 4.99 fold improvement versus 3.86 for women. 

The study reports that eliminating socioeconomic and racial disparities could have gone further to prevent about 37% of the premature cancer deaths among 25-64 year olds in 2007. This could have saved 60,370 lives.
 
Overall, the incidence of cancer in men has remained stable, but it has declined for women at the rate of -0.6% annually since 1998. Incidence for the four major cancers, breast, lung, prostate, and colorectal, declined for all.

 Declines in cancer for women, particularly breast cancer, are attributed to improved screening and the reduced use of postmenopausal hormone therapy. Lung cancer deaths have also declined as the number of women smokers has dropped. In men, reduced rates in colorectal cancer are attributed to screening and better procedures used to remove pre-cancerous polyps.
 
The reduced numbers of deaths are the result increased knowledge of cancer, improved treatment, and better public awareness and education. The report hints that further progress can be achieved by reducing socioeconomic disparity between the educated and the uneducated and between racial divides. To date, the current progress has saved almost one million lives from premature cancer deaths.

The study was completed with data taken from the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries and mortality data from the National Center for Health Statistics.

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