A Drop in Cancer Death Rates

by KYW's medical editor Dr. Brian McDonough

They say you can make statistics tell you anything you want to hear and after years of reading and reviewing medical studies I totally agree. But some statistics don’t lie and it is a great feeling to come across positive statistics in medicine.
 
The latest American Cancer Society's numbers are extremely encouraging  showing a 19.2 percent drop in cancer death rates among men from 1990 to 2005, as well as an 11.4 percent drop in women's cancer death rates during the same time period. If you look at the total numbers, cancer death rates fell 2 percent per year from 2001 to 2005 in men and 1.6 percent per year from 2002 to 2005 in women.
 
Why is this the case? It is mainly because of prevention - mostly a reduction in smoking rates; detection which includes screening for colorectal cancer, for breast cancer and for cervical cancer.
 
There have been advances in treatment as well and as we learn more about gene therapy there is the opportunity for more.