A new report from American Cancer Society researchers finds that
despite declining death rates, cancer has surpassed heart
disease as the leading cause of death among Hispanics in the
U.S. Among non-Hispanic whites and African Americans, heart
disease remains the number one cause of death. The figures come
from Cancer Statistics for Hispanics/Latinos 2012, appearing in
the journal CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, which has been
produced every three years since 2000. The report says that in
2012, an estimated 112,800 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed
and 33,200 cancer deaths will occur among Hispanics. Among U.S.
Hispanics during the past ten years of available data
(2000-2009), cancer incidence rates declined by 1.7% per year
among men and 0.3% per year among women. Hispanics have lower
incidence and death rates than non-Hispanic whites for all
cancers combined and for the four most common cancers (breast,
prostate, lung and bronchus, and colorectum). The most notable
example is lung cancer, for which