More Than 1.5 Million Cancer Deaths Avoided During 20 Years of Dropping Mortality Rates

AlexRaths/iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — The American Cancer Society says that more than 1.5 million cancer deaths that would have occurred over two decades have been avoided due to the 22-percent drop in cancer mortality seen in that span.

Between 2007 and 2011 — the most recent five years for which data is available — the average cancer death rate declined by 1.8 percent among men and 1.4 percent among women. The ACS attributes those declines to decreases in death rate among the most common cancers — lung, breast, prostate and colon.

The report estimates that 1,658,370 cancer cases will be discovered in 2015, and 589,430 Americans will die of cancer in 2015.

Between 1991 and 2011, cancer death rates have dipped in every state. The smallest declines — about 15 percent — were found in the South, while declines of as large as 25 to 30 percent were seen in Maryland, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York and Delaware.

“The continuing drops we’re seeing in cancer mortality are reason to celebrate,” John Seffrin, PhD, CEO of the American Cancer Society, said, “but not to stop.” He notes that cancer “was responsible for nearly one in four deaths in the United States in 2011, making it the second-leading cause of death overall.”

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