U.S. Cancer Death Rates Have Fallen 33% Since 1991

When it comes to cancer, most news isn’t great. There are so many different kinds of cancer and it seems to touch everyone in some way.

As medical advancements are made, cancer treatments have improved and our knowledge of various cancers has grown drastically. Despite that, it’s still a major cause of death in the U.S.

However, it may not be as bad as we once thought. In fact, a recent report shows that rates of cancer deaths have dropped drastically over the past three decades.

The American Cancer Society issued a report that shows the cancer death rate in the U.S. has fallen a staggering 33% since 1991. To translate that to real people, the drop meant that there have been 3.5 million fewer deaths.

According to the report, it’s believed that the decline in cancer deaths is due to a combination of factors, ranging from a reduced number of people smoking, higher rates of cancer screenings, earlier diagnosis, and improvements in treatment.

WION News reports that Karen Knudsen, CEO of the American Cancer Society, said: “New revelations for prevention, for early detection and for treatment have resulted in true, meaningful gains in many of the 200 diseases that we call cancer.”

Not all cancer is the same, and some cancers have fairly high survival rates now, such as thyroid at 98%, prostate at 97%, testis at 95% and melanoma at 94%, according to the report.

While the decline in deaths is excellent news, there’s still a lot of work to be done. In the United States, cancer is still the second leading cause of death for adults, coming in right behind heart disease.