US Death Rates Decline for Most Common Cancers in Years Preceding Pandemic, Annual Report Shows

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – Mortality from most common cancers dropped for both men and women in the US during the five-year period preceding the coronavirus pandemic, an annual report published by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said on Thursday.

“Overall cancer death rates continue to decline in men and women for all racial and ethnic groups in the United States, according to the latest Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer”, an NIH press release summarising the report said.

The report shows a decrease in death rates for 11 of the 19 most common cancers among men, and for 14 of the 20 most common cancers among women, over the most recent period (2014-2018).

Declines in deaths from lung cancer and melanoma led the overall decrease, reflecting falling rates of cigarette smoking and a substantial increase in survival for metastatic melanoma due to improved treatments, the report said.

However, the report said declining trends either slowed or disappeared for other common cancers, including prostate, colorectal and breast cancers.

Death rates increased for cancers in the brain and elsewhere in the nervous system and pancreas for both sexes, as well as oral cavity and pharynx in males, and liver and uterus in females, the report said.

An analysis of long-term trends in the report also shows overall cancer death rate declines accelerating for both males and females from 2001 to 2018, the report added.

The annual report is a collaborative effort among the American Cancer Society (ACS); the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health; and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR).