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U.S. Government Releases
New Cancer Statistics
NEW YORK (Reuters
Health) - Breast cancer and prostate
cancer head the list of the most common cancers, regardless of
race, among American men and women, cancer experts announced.
"Cancer is the second-leading cause
of death in the US and the American Cancer Society estimates that
in 2002, approximately 1.3 million Americans will receive a new
diagnosis of cancer and over half-a-million Americans will die
of the disease," said Hannah Weir, a cancer expert with the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia.
Weir spoke at a press conference
releasing the latest data available on cancer in the US. The report,
based on 1999 figures, was produced jointly by the CDC and the
National Cancer Institute in collaboration with the North American
Association of Central Cancer Registries.
"Information from population-based
cancer registries is critical for directing effective cancer prevention
and control programs to reduce the burden of this disease," Weir
noted.
"This report contains, for the
first time, official federal government cancer statistics for
more than 1 million invasive cancer cases diagnosed during 1999,
the most recent year for which incidence data is available among
residents of 37 states, six metropolitan areas and the District
if Columbia," Weir told attendees of the news conference.
The report's findings are based
on cancer reporting covering roughly 78% of the US population,
she added.
Among women, regardless of race,
breast cancer heads the list of most common cancers followed in
order by cancers of the lung/bronchus, colon and rectum in white
women, and colon, rectum and lung/bronchus in black women.
The leading cancer in men, regardless
of race, is prostate cancer, followed by lung/bronchus and colon
and rectum, according to the report.
Prostate cancer rates are 1.5 times
higher among black men than white men. Breast cancer rates are
about 20% higher in white women compared with black women, the
report indicates.
"Because data collection procedures
for identifying specific racial and ethnic populations vary widely
from registry to registry, only data for blacks and whites are
included in this report," according to a press release. "Future
United States Cancer Statistics reports will include cancer data
on other racial and ethnic populations."
Reference
Source 89
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