Cancer deaths see biggest one-year drop in history

CANCER DIGEST – Jan. 15, 2021 – Declining deaths from cancer set a record for a 1-year drop in the latest report by the American Cancer Society. The 2.4 percent decline from 2017 to 2018 was the fastest decline ever recorded.

The 2.4 percent drop in cancer deaths follows a steady 31 percent decline in cancer deaths over the past two decades from 1991  to 2018. The cancer death rate peaked in 1991 at 215 deaths per 100,000 people. 

Despite the declining deaths, the report estimates that in the US in 2021, almost 1.9 million new cancers cases will be diagnosed and more than 600,000 people will die from the disease. 
The most recent data is two to four years behind the current year because of the lag time between data collection, analysis and reporting. The report does not include any likely effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer diagnosis and deaths. 

Four cancers account for the greatest numbers of cancer deaths, with almost  a quarter of all cancer deaths due to lung cancer – more than breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers combined. Reductions in the lung cancer death rate account for almost half of the total drop in the cancer death rate from 2014 to 2018. This is thought to be due to declines in smoking, advances in early detection, and improved treatments, especially for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the most common subtype. 

Likewise advances in treatment have helped to lower the death rate from breast cancer by more than 40 percent from 1989 to 2018 and colorectal cancer that has dropped by 55 percent from 1970 to 2018, primarily
due to finding cancers earlier through screening and better treatments. .

While the decline in cancer deaths is good news and shows that advances in research and treatment are paying off, nevertheless, cancer remains the second most common of cause of death in the US behind heart disease.