Cancer deaths nationwide are down 20% from a couple of decades
ago. The numbers in Virginia are also down. "From an overall
standpoint we've seen pretty comparable decreases," said Briggs
Andrews, a Board Member with the American Cancer Society's South
Atlantic Division. "While the good news is those rates have been
going down over the last 20 years, the bad news is that's still
too many people." In fact, nationwide 1.6 million Americans will
be told they have cancer this year, according to the study by
the American Cancer Society. In Virginia that number is expected
at nearly 41,000. 85.2 men out of every 100,000 died from cancer
in Virginia, according to the study while nationwide that number
is 82.7 per 100,000 every year. Women fared better than the
national average for lung cancer deaths with 54.5 deaths per
100,000 in Virginia versus 55.9 nationwide. Andrews attributes
the higher number of overall lung cancer cases in Virginia to
smoking. "I think smoking is a challenge in this area for sure.
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