CHICAGO, Oct 15, 2007 (UPI via COMTEX) -- The United States has experienced a
major 2.1 percent drop in cancer deaths from 2002 to 2004, researchers reported
Monday.
Dr. Richard Schilsky, a professor of medicine at the University of Chicago and
president-elect of the American Society of Clinical Oncology told The New York
Times there was cautious elation over the findings.
"Every 1 percent is 5,000 people who aren't dying," Schilsky said. "That's a
huge sense of progress at this point."
By gender during that period, males death rates declined 2.6 percent, while the
female rate dropped 1.8 percent.
However, cancer remains the second leading cause of death in the United States
after heart disease, with 559,650 cancer deaths expected this year, the report
said.
Since 1993, cancer death rates have been falling 1.1 percent a year on average,
researchers said.
Resarchers credited smoking cessation, increased use of mammograms,
colonoscopies and other tests rather than new cures for the decrease.
The report appears in the Nov. 15 issue of the journal Cancer.
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Copyright 2007 by United Press International