Annual Report to the Nation Finds Cancer Death Rate Decline Doubling Special Feature Examines Cancer in American Indians and Alaska NativesA new report from the nation’s leading cancer organizations shows cancer death rates decreased on average
2.1 percent per year from 2002 through 2004, nearly twice the annual decrease
of 1.1 percent per year from 1993 through 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” published online October 15, 2007
(www.interscience.wiley.com/cancer/report2007)
and appearing in the November 15, 2007, issue of Cancer.
A featured special section 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 country. From 1999 through 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.
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 cancers. In women, deaths rates from colorectal cancer
and breast cancer decreased, while the rate of increase for lung cancer deaths
slowed substantially.
“The significant decline in cancer death rates demonstrates important
progress in the fight against cancer that has been achieved through effective
tobacco control, screening, early detection, and appropriate treatment," said
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director, Julie L. Gerberding,
M.D. “As a nation, we must commit to continuing and enhancing these important
public health efforts.”
“The evidence is unmistakable: we are truly turning the tide in the cancer
battle,” said John R. Seffrin, Ph.D., chief executive officer of the
American Cancer Society (ACS). “The gains could be even greater if everyone
in the U.S. had access to essential healthcare, including primary care and
prevention services.”
Overall cancer incidence rates (the rates at which new cancers are diagnosed)
for both sexes and all races combined declined slightly from 1992 through 2004.
Incidence rates for female breast cancer dropped substantially from 2001 through
2004. This drop is possibly related to declining use of hormone replacement
therapy as well as the recently reported decline in use of screening mammography. Also,
lung cancer incidence rates in women stabilized from 1998 through 2004 after
long term increases, and in men the rate declined 1.8 percent per year from
the period 1991 through 2004. Colorectal cancer incidence rates decreased by
more than 2.0 percent per year for men and women, likely due to prevention
through the removal of precancerous polyps.
In the Special Feature section of the Report, the authors found that
while the top three cancers for men and for 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 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
- The 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 being 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.
“We are firmly committed to addressing cancer health disparities so
that the benefits of decades of research can reach all Americans,” said
National Cancer Institute (NCI) Director John E. Niederhuber, M.D. “The
fact that lung and colorectal cancers rates were higher in some American Indian
and Alaska Native populations points to the work we still have to do.”
AI/AN populations were more likely to live in poverty and less likely
to have a high school education and health coverage when compared to NHW persons,
all indicators of less access to cancer prevention and control services. Also,
current smoking rates were high among AI/AN overall, with the highest prevalence
among AI/AN in Alaska and in the Northern Plains; in all regions, more AI/AN
than NHW persons reported being obese; and screening rates for breast, colorectal,
prostate and cervical cancers were lower among AI/AN than NHW persons.
“We now have an infrastructure in this
country for obtaining high-quality information about new cases of cancer and
we can now describe the successes in cancer interventions and treatment as
well as uncover populations with varying risks and outcomes,” said Holly
L. Howe, Ph.D., executive director of North American Association of Central
Cancer Registries (NAACCR). “Without this surveillance, we would be ill-equipped
to address the challenges we face in further reducing the cancer burden.”
The authors report that earlier detection of disease through screening, improved
prognosis through more effective treatment, tobacco control, and reduction
in inequalities in cancer care all point to the success of the nation’s
dedication and focus on reducing the burden of cancer in the U.S.
The study was conducted by scientists at the CDC, ACS, NCI, which is part of
the National Institutes of Health, and NAACCR, in collaboration with scientists
from the Indian Health Service and Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.
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Espey DK, Wu X, Swan J, Wiggins C, Jim M, Ward E, Wingo PA, Howe HL, Ries LAG,
Miller BA, Jemal A, Ahmed F, Cobb N, Kaur JS, Edwards BK. Annual Report to
the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975-2004, Featuring Cancer in American
Indians and Alaska Natives. Cancer; Published online, October 15,
2007 (DOI: 10.1002/cncr. 23044); Print issue date, November 15, 2007.
For more information on this report, visit the following Web sites:
To view the full report, go to http://www.interscience.wiley.com/cancer/report2007
For a Q&A on this Report, go to http://cancer.gov/newscenter/pressreleases/ReportNation2007QandA
For Spanish translations of this press release and a Q&A, go to http://cancer.gov/espanol/noticias/ReportNation2007SpanishRelease
ACS: http://www.cancer.org
CDC’s Division of Cancer Prevention and Control: http://www.cdc.gov/cancer
IHS: www.ihs.gov
NAACCR: http://www.naaccr.org
NCI: http://www.cancer.gov and the SEER
Homepage: http://www.seer.cancer.gov.
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