Favorable Figures

A trio of researchers from the American Cancer Society report their analysis of trends in age-standardized death rates for cancer in the US between 1970 and 2006. Their findings, published in PLoS One this week, suggest a net decline of 21 and 11 percent in the all-cancer death rates for men since 1970 and 1990, respectively. Likewise, the women's all-cancer death rate saw a net decline of 6 percent since 1970 and 12 percent since 1991. "The downturn in cancer death rates since 1990 result mostly from reductions in tobacco use, increased screening allowing early detection of several cancers, and modest to large improvements in treatment for specific cancers," they write.