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NEW YORK (AP) – Researchers on Tuesday reported another record-breaking one-year drop in the U.S. cancer death rate, a drop they attribute to success with lung cancer.
The overall cancer death rate has been declining since 1991. From 2017 to 2018, it fell 2.4%, according to an American Cancer Society report, beating the record 2.2% the year before. .
Lung cancer has accounted for nearly half of the overall decline in cancer deaths over the past five years, the company reported.
Most cases of lung cancer are linked to smoking, and decades of declining rates of smoking have led to lower rates of lung cancer and death. But experts say the decline in deaths has been accelerated by improvements in surgery, better diagnostic scanning, more precise use of radiation and the impact of new drugs.
“Men and women who are diagnosed with lung cancer survive longer and that’s really great news,” said Dr. Deborah Schrag, head of population sciences at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, in a statement. .
Cancer remains the second leading cause of death in the country, after heart disease. It is estimated that 1.9 million new cases of cancer in the United States will be diagnosed this year. Nearly 609,000 Americans will die of cancer, the company estimates.
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The Associated Press’s Department of Health and Science receives support from the Department of Science Education at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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