The "Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer" was released this afternoon as has been the case every year since the first report was issued in 1998. And, like many of the reports previously, we are fortunate to continue to see declines in the rates of deaths for many cancers along with a decrease in the frequency of some cancers.

However, the news is not all good.

Unfortunately, the incidence of some cancers continues to increase. And, as explained very clearly in this excellent report, this nation continues to suffer from an epidemic of overweight, obesity and physical activity that the authors suggest-but don't actually say-has the potential to overcome the favorable impact of declining smoking and tobacco use on cancer incidence and deaths. The implication is clear that if we don't do something-and do something quickly-to reverse the trend we will see incidence and deaths from certain cancers continue to increase in the future.

And I would stress the point that it is no longer just being oversized that increases your risk of cancer, but also sitting all day on the job (like I am doing right now) as another factor that plays into your cancer risk, independent of how large or small you may be. More...

Every year the American Cancer Society provides a report that is one of the most widely quoted scientific articles in this country.  This year's "Cancer Statistics, 2010" report was released this morning, and provides a considerable amount of information regarding the burden of cancer in the United States, such as the expected number of new cancer cases and number of cancer deaths in the United States in 2010.

As part of the same report, my colleagues at the American Cancer Society also dissect the numbers and provide insight into the trends in cancer incidence and deaths, what is happening and perhaps why it is happening.  Statistics--no matter how good you are at writing reports--are always somewhat droll and boring.  But there are the occasional pearls that leap out at you from time to time, especially if you are interested in this particular subject (which obviously, I am).

Some good news is that--as we have seen in recent years--the death rates from cancer in this country continue their steady decline since the early 1990's.  For men of all races, death rates from cancer have fallen 21% between 1990 and 2006, the latest year for which accurate information is available.  Most of that decline can be explained by decreases in deaths from lung, prostate and colorectal cancer which account for 80% of the observed fall in cancer deaths in men.  For women, the data show a 12.3% decrease in cancer death rates over the similar period of time with most of the decrease coming from falling breast and colorectal cancer death rates.  For women, unfortunately--as has been the case for the past several years--lung cancer deaths have remained steady.

These changes from the early 1990's through 2006 have occurred slowly, year over year over year.  But when looked at in total, you begin to understand the impact of this accumulated progress. My colleagues estimate that over this period of time, 767,000 deaths from cancer have been avoided.

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