The American Cancer Society’s Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer showed a decline in every major ethnic and racial group from 2015 to 2019. The findings are based on pre-COVID-19 pandemic data.
Cancer deaths decreased by 2.1% for women and men during that period, according to the collaborative report from the American Cancer Society, the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries.
Despite the decline in rates, cancer remains the second-most common cause of U.S. deaths after heart disease, according to the American Cancer Society. It reported an estimated 609,360 cancer deaths could occur in 2022, compared to 608,500 projected deaths last year — more than 1,600 deaths per day.
Lung cancer and melanoma deaths decreased the most for adults among cancers with declining death rates, according to the new report.
The drop in mortality suggests “significant progress” in battling cancers, said Kathy Cronin, the deputy associate director of the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance Research Program.
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“Contrary to the rapid declines in the risk of tobacco-related cancers, we have not seen the same progress in cancers associated with metabolic factors, such as excess body weight, physical inactivity and diabetes,” Cronin said.
“The increase in death rates for pancreatic cancer in both men and women and uterine cancer is thought to reflect the obesity epidemic,” said Jemal, who added the rise in melanoma incidence rates among women reflected a both rise in harmful sun exposure and detection by doctors.
