Cancer Passes Heart Disease in 22 States to Become Top Killer

Even as cancer remains the second leading cause of death nationwide, steep drops in deaths from heart disease have made cancer the leading cause of death in 21 states. Death rates for both the causes have been declining since 25 years, but deaths rate due to heart diseases has been reducing at a faster rate. Breast cancer mortality rate has decreased by 36% since 1989, while prostate and colorectal cancer death rates have each declined by approximately 50%, owing to early discovery of the disease and better methods of treatment.

Cancer has officially surpassed heart disease as the leading cause of death in Arizona, according to the latest report from the American Cancer Society.

Cancer also is the No. 1 cause of death among Americans ages 40 to 79. A third of cancer deaths are caused by poor diet, obesity and a lack of exercise, the American Cancer Society says.

Andaz, nevertheless, worries that screenings for lung cancer – spiral CT scans – are not being used enough and predicts that overall cancer survival gains could undergo a reversal unless more smokers – and former smokers – avail themselves of the technology.

The ACS associates tumbling rates of tobacco use with a decline in lung cancer deaths by 38 percent between 1990 and 2012 among males and 13 percent between 2002 and 2012 among females.

Despite the progress, death rates for certain cancers are increasing, Siegel and her colleagues found. These include cancers of the liver, pancreas and uterus. The death rate peaked in 1991 at 215.1 per 100,000 people diagnosed, and dropped to 166.4 per 100,000 people with cancer in 2012.

As a result, cancer moved up to the top slot in 22 states in 2014, according to the latest government figures. The organization says that it is becoming the number one killer replacing heart disease is a reminder that cancer is still a huge problem, and said the fight is still not over against the deadly disease. The report attributes the significant drop in men to recent rapid declines in prostate cancer diagnoses, as prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, testing decreases.

“We’re gratified to see cancer death rates continuing to drop. So while the average American’s chances of dying from the disease are significantly lower now than they have been for previous generations, it continues to be all-too-often the reason for shortened lives, and too much pain and suffering”. At the same time, 841,390 men and 843,820 women will learn that they have cancer.

The data were collected from the U.S. National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program and other sources.