Cancer Mortality Declines Mainly Due to Less Smoking and Better Lung Cancer Treatment

(p. A12) . . . the American Cancer Society reported that the United States had experienced the sharpest one-year drop in cancer death rate ever recorded, . . . .

. . .

The society’s latest annual report on cancer statistics, released on Wednesday, noted that the death rate had dropped steadily over 26 years, from 1991 to 2017. The largest single-year decline ever reported, when the rate fell 2.2 percent, occurred from 2016 to 2017.

. . .

Experts attributed the decline in mortality to reduced smoking rates and to advances in lung cancer treatment. New therapies for melanoma of the skin have also helped extend life for many people with metastatic disease, or cancer that has spread to other parts of the body.

For the full story, see:

Michael Levenson. “Cancer Death Fell Sharply, And Trump Took Credit.” The New York Times (Monday, January 13, 2020): A12.

(Note: ellipses added.)

(Note: the online version of the story has the date Jan. 12, 2020 and has the title “Trump Took Credit for Lower Cancer Death Rates. Advocates Say Not So Fast.” Where there was a minor wording difference between the print and online versions, the quotation above follows the online version. )

The report from the American Cancer Society, mentioned above, is:

Siegel, Rebecca L., Kimberly D. Miller, and Ahmedin Jemal. “Cancer Statistics, 2020.” CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians 70, no. 1 (2020): 7-30.