Cancer cases in US decline for first time [View All]

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Cancer cases in US decline for first time
Could mark turning point; Deaths also drop; reasons unclear
By Rob Stein
Washington Post / November 26, 2008


WASHINGTON - The pace at which Americans are getting cancer has started to decline for the first time, marking what could be a long-awaited turning point in the battle against the disease, according to an annual report that tracks progress in the war on cancer.

Cancer deaths have also continued a decline that began in the early 1990s, meaning that for the first time both trend lines are dropping.

"It is a significant milestone," said Otis Brawley, chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society, which produces the report with the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries. "It is a really big deal."

The drop in cancer incidence has been driven largely by declines in many of the leading forms of cancer - lung, prostate, and colorectal cancer in men, and breast and colorectal cancer in women.

"The take-home message is that many of the things we've been telling people to do to be healthy have finally reached the point where we can say that they are working," Brawley said.

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http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/11/26/cancer_cases_in_us_decline_for_first_time/