U.S. Cancer Mortality Rate Steadily Declining

Decline reaches 25-year mark

A recent study concluded that cancer-related deaths in the United States have declined for 25 consecutive years.

The overall nationwide cancer death rate fell continuously from 1991 to 2016 by a total of 27 percent, according to a study by the American Cancer Society. The study was published last week in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.

Overall, the statistic translates to about 2.6 million fewer cancer deaths total than would have been expected if death rates stayed at their 1991 peak, according to the study.

“The continued decline in the cancer death rate over the past 25 years is really good news and was a little bit of a surprise, only because the other leading causes of death in the US are starting to flatten. So we’ve been wondering if that’s going to happen for cancer as well, but so far it hasn’t,” Rebecca Siegel, first author of the study and strategic director of surveillance information at the American Cancer Society, told CNN.

2017’s leading causes of death were heart disease, cancer, and accidents/unintentional injuries.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t all good news, as the World Health Organization found the number of people who have cancer worldwide appears to be growing. A September report estimated over 18 million new worldwide cases of cancer worldwide in 2018 alone.