Winning the War on Cancer

Mayer, Robert J.; Schnipper, Lowell E.

doi:10.1056/nejm199709253371313

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 14 publications

(6 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Secular trends in age-adjusted cancer mortality rates were central to decennial reviews of national cancer mortality rates in the US in the 20 th century (2, 3) that raised concerns about progress in the war against cancer and the balance of investment in research into prevention, early detection and treatment. These analyses have inspired energetic discussion in both the medical and lay literature (4-7), with, on balance, more pessimism than optimism. More recent annual reports on the status of cancer from the American Cancer Society, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries have been more encouraging, documenting progress against cancer in noting that age-adjusted cancer mortality rates began to decline in the mid 1990's (8-12).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Decline in U.S. Cancer Mortality in People Born since 1925

2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background The conventional practice of analyzing overall age-adjusted cancer mortality rates heavily emphasizes the experience of older, higher mortality age groups. This may conceal shifts in lifetime cancer mortality experience emerging first in younger age groups. Methods We examined age-specific cancer mortality rates and birth-cohort-specific cancer mortality rates in US mortality data recorded since 1955 to assess the effects of age, period and cohort in secular mortality trends. Cancer mortality and population data were obtained from the World Health Organization's Statistical Information System (WHOSIS). Findings Age-specific cancer mortality rates have been steadily declining in the U.S. since the early 1950's, beginning with children and young adults and now including all age groups. During the second half of the 20th century, each successive decade of births from 1925 - 1995 experienced a lower risk of cancer death than its predecessor at virtually every age for which such a comparison can be made. Conclusions A major decline in cancer mortality has been occurring in the U.S. for the past fifty years, affecting birth cohorts born as long as eighty years ago. Excepting lung cancer, much of this decline has occurred despite relatively stable cancer incidence. These findings suggest that improvements in cancer detection, treatment, and/or prevention have reduced the risk of cancer death across the lifespan for individuals born in the last three-quarters of the 20th century.

show abstract