More than 1.7 million cancer deaths averted between 1991 and 2012
Steady reductions in smoking combined with advances in cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment have resulted in a 23% drop in the cancer death rate since its peak in 1991. The drop translates to more than 1.7 million cancer deaths averted through 2012. The findings are included in Cancer Statistics, 2016, the American Cancer Society’s latest annual report on cancer incidence, mortality, and survival. It is published early online in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.
Every year, the American Cancer Society estimates new cancer cases and deaths in the U.S. for the current year and compiles the most recent data on cancer incidence, mortality, and survival. The report estimates there will be 1,685,210 new cancer cases and 595,690 cancer deaths in the United States in 2016.