The latest figures released by the American Cancer Society show that death rates for the top three cancer killers in men – lung, colon, and prostate cancer – and for breast and colon cancer in women are continuing to fall. Colon cancer death rates fell to 20.8 per 100,000 people per year in 2000; in 1999 colon cancer killed 20.9 people per 100,000 and 22.6 in 1995. Meanwhile breast cancer deaths fell from 30.6 per 100,000 in 1995 to 26.7 in 2000. However, the report also shows that more women are dying from lung cancer, and that more people are dying from obesity-related cancers, such as liver and esophageal cancer. The Society estimates that 1.368 million Americans will be diagnosed with cancer in 2004, and 563,700 – or 1,500 people a day – will die of it.
SOURCE/REFERENCE: Reported by www.reutershealth.com on the 15th January 2004.
