Special Notices
Lung Cancer Remains America’s Top Cancer Killer
Incidence rates among men continue to decline and rates level off for women
The American Cancer Society (ACS) has released its annual report of cancer
statistics, which presents data on cancer incidence, mortality, survival, and
cancer risk factors, and annual estimates of expected new cancer cases and
deaths. The full report Cancer
Facts and Figures 2005 is available on the ACS website. In addition
an overview of the findings is available in the January/February 2005 issue
of CA: A
Cancer Journal for Clinicians.
For the first time cancer has surpassed heart disease as the number one cause
of death for Americans under age 85. And of all cancer deaths, lung cancer
remains the top killer. The report estimates that 163,510 people will die from
the disease in 2005. Other significant findings include:
- Lung cancer is expected to comprise 29 percent of all cancer deaths in
2005
- An estimated 172,570 new cases of lung cancer are expected to be diagnosed
in 2005, accounting for about 13 percent of cancer diagnoses
- Since 1987 more women have died each year of lung cancer than from breast
cancer
- The incidence rate is declining significantly in men, from a high of 102.1
per 100,000 in 1984 to 77.7 percent in 2001
- The incidence rate in women decreased for the first time from 52.8 percent
in 1998 to 49.1 percent in 2001 after a long period of increase
- Death rates have continued to decline in men since 1991 by about 1.9 percent
per year
- Female lung cancer death rates have recently reached a plateau after continuously
increasing for several decades
- The 1-year relative survival rate for lung cancer has increased from 37
percent in 1975 to 42 percent in 2000, largely due to improvements in surgical
techniques and combined therapies
- The 5-year relative survival rate for all stages combined is only 15 percent.
The survival rate is 49 percent for cases detected when the disease is still
localized. Only 16 percent of lung cancer cases are diagnosed at this early
stage
The overview contains several graphical representations, including a the lung
cancer mortality rates for men and women against
other cancers.
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