WEDNESDAY, Sept. 6, 2006 (HealthDay News) -- Fewer Americans are dying from cancer, even while the rate of diagnosis remains about the same.
"The death rate continues to drop," confirmed Ahmedin Jemal, program director of cancer occurrence at the American Cancer Society. "We're making progress because of a reduction in tobacco consumption, improved treatment, and improved detection."
And overall, Latino immigrants have lower rates of cancer than whites or blacks, although some of this good news is offset by other factors.
"Latinos in the U.S. have lower cancer incidence and death rates," Jemal said. "But they have a higher rate of cancers related to infection like stomach, liver and cervical cancers. They are also more likely to be diagnosed at advanced stages of the disease for some of the more common cancers, such as breast and lung."
Jemal is co-author of this year's Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975-2003, Featuring Cancer among U.S. Hispanic/Latino Populations, which is being published in the Oct. 15 issue of Cancer.
The report, which appears annually, is a joint effort from the American Cancer Society, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. National Cancer Institute, and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries.
This year's report includes the first comprehensive compilation of cancer information for U.S. Latinos.
Data on new cancer diagnoses came from state and regional population-based cancer registries, and data on cancer deaths came from the CDC's National Vital Statistics System.
The drop in death rates persisted through 2003, continuing a trend first reported in 1998. This has been the first sustained decline in cancer death rates in the United States since the 1930s. Men experienced greater declines (1.6 percent per year from 1993 through 2003) than women (0.8 percent per year from 1992 through 2003).
Among the report's other findings.
The data on Latinos may seem counterintuitive.
It's not clear why the overall rates are lower for Latinos, Delgado said. "We can't look at things as simply as we have in the past. As we move to more personalized medicine, we have to look at each person's strengths and areas where they need improvement."
Until that day comes, however, the challenge is in addressing the needs of different groups.
"Twenty percent of the U.S. population still smokes and over two-thirds of U.S. adults are overweight, so we still have to make sure there is prevention and early detection," Jemal said. "Colorectal cancer is a very good example. If you catch colorectal cancer, survival is 90 percent but only 50 percent of men and women who are 50 and older get screened. We still have a long way to go."
More information
Find the report at the American Cancer Society.