Cancer rates on the decline in the U.S.

A powerful combination of factors--including improved rates of screening, new treatments and healthier lifestyles--are continuing to lower the annual number of cancer cases and deaths in the U.S., cancer researchers report.

A new study, appearing in the journal Cancer, draws on a wide range of information on U.S. cancer cases, including data from the American Cancer Society, the CDC, the U.S. National Cancer Institute and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries.

When the number crunching was complete, researchers concluded that new cancer cases and deaths from the disease have fallen significantly for both genders and most racial/ethnic groups. This was largely due to lower incidence and death from lung, prostate and colon cancer among men, along with a drop in breast and colon cancers among women.

New diagnoses for all types of cancer fell almost 1 percent a year from 1999 to 2006, with cancer deaths dropping 1.6 percent per year from 2001 to 2006.

Learn more about the study's conclusions:
- read this HealthDay News piece

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