Cancer deaths down, with exceptions

Cancer deaths are falling overall, although a yearslong decline in deaths from prostate cancer has stopped.

That’s according to the National Institute of Cancer, which on Tuesday released the Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, as well as a companion study on prostate cancer. The Status of Cancer report, a collaborative effort between the National Cancer Institute and other national health organizations, shows that from 1999 to 2015, the overall cancer death rate went down by 1.8 percent annually among men and 1.4 percent among women.

Between 2011 and 2015, death rates dropped for 11 of the 18 most common cancer types in men and for 14 of the 20 most common cancer types in women. It’s unclear exactly what’s causing the decline, as it’s likely a variety of factors, said Dr. Kathy Cronin, deputy associate director of the National Cancer Institute’s surveillance program.

“Mortality is affected by a lot of things along the way,” Cronin said, including advances in care, increases in early detection and declines in people exposing themselves to habits that put them at risk for cancer, including smoking.

Smoking particularly seems to affect lung cancer, Cronin said. As rates of smoking decline, “lung cancer incidence and mortality is falling for both men and women.”

However, she said, it is still the second most common cancer for both men and women.

The declining death rates echo what’s been happening in Connecticut. Though the annual report didn’t include a state-by-state breakdown of cancer statistics, the National Cancer Institute’s state cancer profile of Connecticut shows the cancer death rate here has been declining for more than two decades.

In 1991, for example, there were 204 cancer deaths per 100,000 people in Connecticut. In 2014, there were 146.8 cancer deaths per 100,000 people.

Cancer death rates have also been falling in all Connecticut counties. Fairfield County’s death rate in 2014 was the lowest in the state, at 139.8 cancer deaths per 100,000 people. Windham County’s was the highest, with 168.3 cancer deaths per 100,000.

But the news wasn’t all positive. Death rates for multiple cancers increased in that same time period, including those for liver, pancreas and brain cancer in both men and women. Among women, death rates for cancer of the uterus rose, and among men, deaths from cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx and soft tissue went up.

Cronin said that in a report like this one, which mainly deals with analyzing data, “you can’t really say what causes something.”

However, she said, research has shown there might be a link between the increase in liver cancer and a boost in hepatitis C, particularly in the baby boomer population. Obesity, meanwhile, could be a factor in the rise in liver, pancreatic and uterine cancers.

A companion study also found some disturbing trends regarding prostate cancer. After two decades of decline — between 1993 and 2013 — prostate cancer deaths stabilized (or stopped falling) between 2013 and 2015.

The rate of new prostate cases did continue falling between 2007 and 2014, by an average of 6.4 percent each year. However, the rate of so-called “distant” prostate cancer — cancer that has spread to other parts of the body from the original tumor site — increased from 7.8 new cases per 100,000 in 2010 to 9.2 new cases per 100,000 in 2014.

But Cronin said the trend, overall, is moving in the right direction.

“Mortality for some of the most common cancers — breast, lung, colorectal — has gone down, and that’s good news,” she said.