Cancer Deaths Fall in United States

Cancer deaths in the United States continue to decline, with lung and severe skin cancers falling the most, ABC News reported.

The Journal of the National Cancer Institute published data from 2001 to 2018, with the caveat it does not reflect information from 2020, which may have gone up do to the healthcare system focusing on the pandemic and people going out less.

Deaths from 11 out of 19 of the most common cancers in men and 14 in the 20 most common cancers in women have fallen by an average 2.2% per year in men and an average 1.7% per year in women.

Experts say the decline comes from the falling rates of smoking and increasingly sophisticated cancer treatments.

“The continued decline in cancer death rates should be gratifying to the cancer research community, as evidence that scientific advances over several decades are making a real difference in outcomes at the population level,” said Dr. Norman Sharpless, director of the National Cancer Institute.

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smarcus@hamodia.com