The cancer mortality in the United States is falling, but the mortality rate for certain types of cancer is rising, according to a new report.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR), the American Cancer Society (ACS), and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) jointly released their annual report on Tuesday.
"There is a lot of good news in the report — overall mortality is going down for all cancers combined," Kathy Cronin, the lead author of the study and deputy associate directory at the National Cancer Institute’s surveillance research program, told BuzzFeed News.
Researchers believe the falling mortality rate is related to fewer people smoking, earlier diagnosis, and improved treatments.
“The latest Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer finds that overall cancer death rates continue to decline in men, women, and children in the United States in all major racial and ethnic groups," the NCI wrote in a press release. "Overall cancer incidence, or rates of new cancers, decreased in men and were stable in women from 1999 to 2014. In a companion study, researchers reported that there has been an increase in incidence of late-stage prostate cancer and that after decades of decline, prostate cancer mortality has stabilized.”
Cronin told BuzzFeed that "The site that is going up the fastest as far as the annual percent change in mortality is liver, and that’s for both men and women. Of course this is an observational study so you can’t really assign causality to it, but it’s believed to be due to hepatitis C."
"This year’s report is an encouraging indicator of progress we’re making in cancer research. As overall death rates continue to decline for all major racial and ethnic groups in the United States, it’s clear that interventions are having an impact," NCI Director Ned Sharpless said in the press release. "The report also highlights areas where more work is needed. With steadfast commitment to patients and their families, we will be able to lower the mortality rates faster and improve the lives of those affected by cancer."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.