Another record drop in US cancer mortality rate [Video]

NEW YORK (AP). Researchers reported on Tuesday that the U.S. death toll for another year has dropped to cancer, a decline they attribute to success against lung cancer.

The total cancer mortality rate has been falling since 1991. From 2017 to 2018, according to a report by the American Cancer Society, it fell by 2.4% and reported on top of the record drop of 2.2% the previous year.

Lung cancer has been responsible for nearly half of the overall decline in cancer deaths in the past five years, the association reports.

Most cases of lung cancer are related to smoking, and decades of declining smoking rates have led to a declining number of diseases and deaths in lung cancer. But experts believe the decline in deaths has been accelerated by refinement in surgery, better diagnostic scans, more accurate use of radiation and the impact of newer medicines.

“Both men and women diagnosed with lung cancer survive longer, and that’s really fantastic news,” said Dr. Deborah Schrag, head of population sciences at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, said in a statement.

Cancer is still the country’s biggest cause of death, after heart disease. It is estimated that 1.9 million new U.S. cancer cases will be diagnosed. Nearly 609,000 Americans will die of cancer, the association estimates.

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