Cancer incidence and mortality continue to fall in US, report finds

Overall cancer incidence and mortality in the United States continue to fall, but other illnesses that afflict many people with cancer, such as heart and lung disorders, add significantly to the burden of disease and will pose formidable challenges to the US healthcare system as the number of aging cancer survivors grows, a new report warns.

The survey, the Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, was prepared by the American Cancer Society, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Cancer Institute, and the North American Association for Central Cancer Registries and was published online in Cancer.1

The report found that the overall incidence of cancer fell by 0.4% a year from 2001 through 2010, the last year complete data were available. Most of this decrease, however, was due to a decrease in incidence in men, who saw a 0.6% annual decrease. In contrast, …