Mortality due to cancer declines extensively, study shows

Washington D.C [USA]: The good news in medical science is that the deaths due to cancer have extensively decreased.

Since 1991 till 2017 (26 years), death rates have dropped by 29 per cent including a notable drop of 2.2 per cent in just a year’s span from 2016 to 2017.

The constant drop rate in overall cancer-related deaths indicates lesser mortality due to colorectal, lung, breast and prostate. However, recent data shows a mixed trend.

The leading cause for cancerous death is lung cancer at a slower pace of yearly 2 per cent from 4 per cent in the recent years bringing the overall count further down.

The study appeared in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, and is accompanied by a consumer version, Cancer Facts & Figures 2020.

In the first few of these 26 years, the then record steadily decreased bringing more hope to the patients’ life. The death rate furthered down to 51 per cent in men and 26 per cent in women when affecting the lungs since the ’90s.

The most constant and aggravating declines in mortality occurred for melanoma of the skin, on the heels of breakthrough treatments approved in 2011 that pushed one-year survival for patients diagnosed with metastatic disease from 42% during 2008-2010 to 55% during 2013-2015.

This progress is likewise reflected in the overall melanoma death rate, which dropped by 7% per year during 2013-2017 in people ages 20 to 64, compared to declines during 2006-2010

“The news this year is mixed,” said Rebecca Siegel, MPH, lead author of the report, adding “The exciting gains in reducing mortality for melanoma and lung cancer are tempered by slowing progress for colorectal, breast, and prostate cancers, which are amenable to early detection.”

She feels that It’s a reminder that increasing our investment in the equitable application of existing cancer control interventions, as well as basic and clinical research to further advance treatment, would undoubtedly accelerate progress against cancer.

“The accelerated drops in lung cancer mortality as well as in melanoma that we’re seeing are likely due at least in part to advances in cancer treatment over the past decade, such as immunotherapy,” said William G. Cance, M.D., chief medical and scientific officer for the American Cancer Society, concluding, “They are a profound reminder of how rapidly this area of research is expanding, and now leading to real hope for cancer patients.” (ANI)