Cancer deaths expected to decline in 2006, ACS reports

Based on American Cancer Society estimates, cancer deaths in the United States will decline slightly in 2006 compared with estimates made for 2005. The projections are based on a decline in the actual number of cancer deaths reported by the National Center for Health Statistics for 2002 and 2003, the first decline in the actual number of cancer deaths in more than 70 years.

From 2002 to 2003, the number of recorded cancer deaths decreased by 778 in men, but increased by 409 in women, resulting in a net decrease of 369 total cancer deaths. The decrease in the number of Americans dying from cancer is a result of declining cancer death rates outpacing the impact of growth and aging of the population.

Prostate cancer remains the most common cancer other than skin cancer among American men, with an estimated 234,460 new cases and 27,350 deaths expected in 2006. Although death rates have decreased since the early 1990s, rates in African-American men remain more than twice as high as rates in Caucasian men.

Other 2006 estimates include: bladder cancer (61,420 new cases, 13,060 deaths); kidney cancer (38,890 new cases, 12,840 deaths); and testicular cancer (8,250 new cases, 370 deaths).