Cancer mortality continues steady decline, driven by progress against lung cancer

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-01/acs-cmc010620.php

News Release 8-Jan-2020
American Cancer Society

The cancer death rate declined by 29% from 1991 to 2017, including a 2.2% drop from 2016 to 2017, the largest single-year drop in cancer mortality ever reported. The news comes from Cancer Statistics, 2020, the latest edition of the American Cancer Society's annual report on cancer rates and trends.

The steady 26-year decline in overall cancer mortality is driven by long-term drops in death rates for the four major cancers - lung, colorectal, breast, and prostate, although recent trends are mixed. The pace of mortality reductions for lung cancer - the leading cause of cancer death - accelerated in recent years (from 2% per year to 4% overall) spurring the record one-year drop in overall cancer mortality. In contrast, progress slowed for colorectal, breast, and prostate cancers.

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