Lung cancer deaths in American women down, report says

Lung Cancer Deaths Among Women Drops

Lung cancer is projected to kill 159,000 people in the U.S. this year and remains the number one cause of cancer deaths in the country and in the whole world.

Some 70,500 of those Americans are women, and a new report from the American Cancer Society shows that as a group, there was a less than one percent decrease in the death rate.

That may signal a turnaround point that may lead to a continuous decline in women killed by lung cancer. A similar decline was observed among men ten years earlier.

Even though the drop-off in the cancer death rate seems minuscule, health officials say the overall numbers are significant.

"It looks like we've turned the corner," said the association's Elizabeth Ward. "We think this downward trend is real, and we think it will continue."

Cancer prevention campaigns, better screening and monitoring as well as improved treatment have all contributed to the decrease in total cancer deaths. The latest figures, from 2003 to 2007, shows that overall cancer deaths have declined 1.6 percent.

The same downward trend of lung cancer deaths among women has been expected following the decline among men. Women acquired the smoking habit later than men. But the prevalence of smoking, and consequently, lung cancer deaths among men started to decrease in the early 1990s.

The report also revealed that black patients still have the highest overall cancer death rates, although this group also showed the most improvement in the last ten years. Breast cancer and prostate cancer diagnoses meanwhile have leveled off in recent years after a spike in the early 2000s.

Experts say more cancer research, tobacco control and anti-smoking measures will further decrease the number of Americans killed by lung cancer.

Posted by George Daniels on Friday April 01 2011, 6:50 AM EST. Ref: AP. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Health. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0