Among racial/ethnic groups, cancer death rates were highest in black men and women and lowest in Asian/Pacific Islander men and women. Although trends in death rates by race/ ethnicity were similar for most cancer sites, death rates from pancreatic cancer, the fourth most common cause of cancer death in the United States, increased among white men and women but decreased among black men and women.
The three leading causes of cancer death for all men, with the exception of Asian/Pacific Islanders, were lung, prostate and colorectal cancer. Lung, liver and colorectal cancers were the top three causes of cancer death in Asian/Pacific Islander men. For women, the three leading causes of cancer death were lung, breast and colorectal cancer for all racial/ethnic groups except Hispanic women, for whom breast cancer ranked first. The differences and fluctuations in death rates by racial/ethnic group, sex, and cancer site may reflect differences in risk behaviors, socioeconomic status, and access to and use of screening and treatment.
"The continued decline in incidence and death rates for all cancers combined is extremely encouraging, but progress has been more limited for certain types of cancer, including many cancers that are currently less amenable to screening, such as cancer of esophagus, liver and pancreas," said Betsy Kohler, executive director of NAACCR.
The special section on colorectal cancer rates says that long-term incidence trends for colorectal cancer have been fairly consistent for men and women, with major declines from 1985 to1995, minor increases from 1995 to1998, and significant declines from 1998 to 2006. Since 1984, death rates have also declined for men and women with accelerated rates of decline since 2002 for men and 2001 for women. In the most recent decade for which there are data (1997-2006), rates of newly diagnosed colorectal cancer have decreased for men and women in all racial/ethnic groups examined except American Indian/Alaskan Native (AI/AN) women. Incidence rates declined most rapidly among men and women over 65 years of age and increased most rapidly in people under age 50 in most population groups.
"This report shows that we have begun to make progress reducing colorectal cancer. Yet, colorectal cancer still kills more people than any other cancer except lung cancer," said CDC Director Thomas Frieden, M.D. "Reducing smoking further can bring lung and other cancer rates down, and improved colorectal cancer screening can prevent colorectal cancer. Through CDC's Colorectal Cancer Control Program, we have tremendous potential to reduce the disparities that exist in colorectal cancer screening and to save lives." The CDC program supports population-based screening efforts and provides colorectal cancer screening services to low-income men and women ages 50 to 64 years who are underinsured or uninsured for screening, when no other insurance is available.