U.S. cancer rates declining

U.S. cancer death rates decreased by 1.8 percent per year in men and by 1.6 percent per year in women from 2004 and 2008, the American Cancer Society says. The report, Cancer Statistics 2012, said over the past 10 years of available data from 1999 to 2008 cancer death rates declined in men and women of every racial/ethnic group with the exception of American Indians, among whom rates have remained stable. In addition, the report said from 2004 to 2008, overall cancer incidence rates declined by 0.6 percent per year in men and were stable in women. Each year, the American Cancer Society estimates the numbers of new U.S. cancer cases and deaths expected in the current year and compiles the most recent data on cancer incidence, mortality and survival based on several national databases. A total of 1.6 million new cancer cases and 577,190 deaths from cancer are projected to occur in the United States in 2012. The most rapid declines in death rates occurred among African-American men at 2.4 percent and Hispanic men at 2.3 percent. Death rates continue to decline for all four major cancers -- lung, colorectal, breast and prostate -- with lung cancer accounting for almost 40 percent of the total decline in men and breast cancer accounting for 34 percent of the total decline in women. The findings were published online ahead of print in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.