Report: Cancer deaths decline for all racial groups in last 40 years

According to the Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, overall death rates related to cancer have decreased in men, women and children for all major racial and ethnic groups between 1975 and 2014.

Published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the findings showed decreases of 11 of the 16 most common types of cancer in men between 2010 and 2014 and for 13 of the 18 most common types of cancer in women in the same period. However, death rates in men for cancers of the liver, pancreas and brain increased, as did liver and uterine cancer in women. 

"While trends in death rates are the most commonly used measure to assess progress against cancer, survival trends are also an important measure to evaluate progress in improvement of cancer outcomes," said Ahmedin Jemal, DVM, PhD, of the American Cancer Society and lead author of the study.

When comparing cases diagnosed between 1975 and 1977, five-year survival rates for cancers diagnosed from 2006 to 2012 increased significantly for cervix and uterine cancers. The highest increases in survival were seen in prostate and kidney cancers, along with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, myeloma and leukemia. Prostate, thyroid, melanoma and female breast cancer were among the highest types of cancers with the lowest five-year survival rate.

"While this report found that five-year survival for most types of cancer improved among both blacks and whites over the past several decades, racial disparities for many common cancers have persisted, and they may have increased for prostate cancer and female breast cancer," said Lynne T. Penberthy, MD, MPH, associate director of National Cancer Institute's Surveillance Research Program.

Data from the report also showed that tobacco-related cancers have low survival rates and that obesity is something that is of concern. 

"In addition, every state in the nation has an adult obesity prevalence of 20 percent or more,” said Lisa C. Richardson, MD, MPH, director of the Centers for Disease Control's Division of Cancer Prevention and Control. “With obesity as a risk factor for cancer, we need to continue to support communities and families in prevention approaches that can help reverse the nation's obesity epidemic."