Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer

A new report from the nation's leading cancer organizations shows cancer death rates decreased on average 2.1 percent per year from 2002 to 2004, nearly twice the annual decrease of 1.1 percent per year from 1993 to 2002. The findings are in the "Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975-2004, Featuring Cancer in American Indians and Alaska Natives."

The study was conducted by scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the American Cancer Society (ACS), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, in collaboration with scientists from the Indian Health Service and Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. The report is now available online and will appear in the November 15, 2007, issue of the journal Cancer.

Among the general population, the report shows that long-term declines in cancer death rates continued through 2004 for both sexes and, despite overall higher death rates for men, the declines from 2002 through 2004 were 2.6 percent per year among men and 1.8 percent per year among women. Death rates decreased for the majority of the top 15 cancers in men and women. Important declines were noted for the three leading causes of cancer deaths in men: lung, prostate, and colorectal. In women, deaths rates from colorectal cancer and breast cancer decreased, while the rate of increase of lung cancer deaths slowed substantially.

Cancer Rates in American Indians and Alaska Natives

A featured special section of the report provides the most comprehensive cancer data to date for American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) across the United States. Cancer incidence rates among AI/AN men and women varied two-fold among six geographic regions of the U.S. From 1999 to 2004, AI/AN men from the Northern Plains region and AI/AN women from Alaska and the Northern and Southern Plains regions had higher cancer incidence rates than non-Hispanic white (NHW) men and women in the same areas.

The authors found that while the top three cancers for men and women are the same for AI/AN and NHW populations, there are important differences by region and type of cancer, including:

• For all cancers combined, AI/AN incidence rates were lower in the Southwest and higher in the Northern and Southern Plains and Alaska.

• Lung and colorectal cancer incidence rates were highest in the Northern Plains and Alaska and were significantly elevated in comparison with NHW rates.

• Incidence rates for cancers of the kidney, stomach, liver, cervix and gallbladder were higher in AI/AN than in NHW populations in all regions combined.

• With the exception of Alaska, AI/AN persons were less likely than NHW persons to be diagnosed with early stages of colorectal cancer, with the difference larger in the Southwest, Northern Plains, and Southern Plains than other regions.

• AI/AN women in all regions of the U.S. were less likely than NHW women to be diagnosed with localized breast cancer.