Mostly Good News about Cancer Deaths & Cancer Screening

Since cancer deaths are some of the leading causes of death in America, cancer screening, treatment and prevention are a high priority for medical researchers and the healthcare community. This post is about mostly favorable trends in cancer deaths and cancer screening in 2017, but not all the news is positive. With this information, how do we expand the proven cancer screening and treatment strategies to improve results for all Americans?

2017 Cancer Death and Cancer Screening Projections

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in Americans after heart disease. Estimates predict that over 600,000 of us will die from cancer in 2017. The good news is that statistics on cancer deaths published in 2017 by the American Cancer Society show that:

From 1991 to 2014, the overall cancer death rate dropped 25%, translating to approximately 2,143,200 fewer cancer deaths than would have been expected if death rates had remained at their peak.

(Siegel, R. L. et al (2017), Cancer Statistics, 2017. CA: 67: 7–30)

The article cites that the decrease was mostly due to fewer Americans smoking, earlier cancer detection and more effective treatment of cancer in the past 25 years.

A dramatic example of the success of cancer screening for prevention is the statistics for colorectal cancer. A decline of almost 4% annually over the past 10 years is attributed to screening colonoscopy at age 50 and removal of precancerous polyps; during this time colonoscopy use increased from 21% to 60% of adults over 50. In contrast, cancer incidence increased by about 2% per year in persons who weren't offered colonoscopy. Although the percentage decline seems small, this means more than 5,000 colon cancer deaths a year are prevented by colonoscopy.

How to Improve Cancer Death Rates in America

But as I said, the news is only mostly good. The report also found that the cancer death rate was 15% higher in US black citizens than in whites. Although smoking is more frequent in black Americans so is unequal access to cancer prevention, early cancer diagnosis, and cancer treatment. Both the extent of cancer at diagnosis and survival rates correlate with health insurance coverage, so any proposed changes to Obamacare must ensure access to quality cancer screening & treatment for all.