document: U.S. Cancer Rates Continue to Fall Report suggests that better screening , diagnosis and treatments are paying off THURSDAY , March 31 -LRB- HealthDay News -RRB- - The rate of new cancers in the United States has dropped by almost 1 percent a year and the rate of death from cancer has fallen 1.6 percent a year , a new report shows . These declines , seen between 2003 and 2007 , continue a trend that began in the 1990s , the researchers added . Importantly , this is the first time a drop in the rate of deaths from lung cancer among women has been seen , coming a decade after lung cancer death rates started declining in men , they noted . '' `` The drop in lung cancer rates among women is due to women quitting smoking , '' '' said report co-author Lynn Ries , a health statistician at the U.S. National Cancer Institute . '' `` Women started smoking a lot later than men , so the peak in the mortality rate occurred a lot later , '' '' she added . The report is the work of researchers at the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries , the U.S. National Cancer Institute , the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Cancer Society . It is published in the March 31 online edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute . Although cancer rates are declining in adults , there has been a rise in cancers diagnosed in children . Most of these involve increases in the incidence of leukemias . However , the rate of death from cancer among children is declining , Ries noted . Ries noted that the reasons for the increase in childhood cancers is n't clear . Among men , the overall cancer rate has remained about the same . In fact , cancer rates in men would have also shown a decline , except for a small rise in the rate of prostate cancer , according to the report . One section of the report focuses specifically on both brain and nervous system cancers and benign tumors . According to the report , benign brain tumors are twice as common as cancerous ones , Ries said . In fact , benign brain tumors account for 75 percent of those in adults and 33 percent of brain tumors in children . '' `` Cancer is not one disease , '' '' Ries said . '' `` The rates for some are going up and some are going down , and there are different patterns for men and for women , '' '' she said . For example : Among men , rates of lung , colon , rectum , oral , pharynx , stomach and brain cancers have dropped . But , rates of kidney , pancreas and liver cancers and melanoma have risen . While , among women , rates of breast , lung , colorectal , uterine , cervical , bladder and oral cancers have dropped . But , rates of kidney , pancreas and thyroid cancers , and leukemias and melanomas , have risen . Racial disparities in cancer still exist , the researchers noted , and the cancer death rate is highest among black men and women , even though the cancer death rate for blacks dropped significantly from 1998 to 2007 . In addition , the highest rates of new cancers seen between 2003 and 2007 was among black men . Among women , the highest rate was seen among white women , according to the report . Among both black and white women , breast cancer was the most commonly diagnosed cancer . These differences may be due to variations in risk behaviors , socioeconomic status and access to and use of screening and treatment , the researchers said . Dr. Joseph Rosenblatt , interim director of the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine , attributes declining cancer rates and deaths to a variety of factors . The reduction in the rate of some cancers is mostly due to lifestyle changes , especially people not smoking , he said . On cutting the death rate , Rosenblatt noted that '' `` we have evolved better screening , better diagnostics and better classification of cancers and better treatments , '' '' he said . '' `` We are beginning to see significant decreases . '' '' On the other hand , '' `` we really do n't have a good explanation for why childhood cancers have increased , '' '' Rosenblatt said . Most of the rise is in leukemias , and '' `` the good news is that most leukemias are curable in children , '' '' he said . Rosenblatt expects to see even fewer cancer deaths in the future . '' `` The treatments on the horizon are extraordinary , '' '' he said . This change is being brought about by better understandings of how different cancers work and then developing targeted treatments , Rosenblatt said . '' `` The war on cancer has been successful , '' '' he concluded . More information
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