June 17th, 2011

HealthDay reports:

There has been a steady drop in cancer deaths in the United States in the past two decades, two American Cancer Society reports find.

This translates into a dramatic decline between 1990 and 2007 — nearly 900,000 fewer people felled by the disease, the society explained.

“It’s getting better for the majority of cancers,” said Dr. Iuliana Shapira, director of cancer genetics at Monter Cancer Center at the North Shore-LIJ Health System in New Hyde Park, NY.

Early detection and bettertreatments are having an impact on cancer death rates, said Shapira, who was not involved in the report. “More people are living with cancer… We are doing better than we did,” she said.

Ahmedin Jemal, strategic director of cancer surveillance at the American Cancer Society, added that a decline in the rate of smoking among Americans is also responsible for the drop in deaths from cancer.

Read the rest of the story at HealthDay