The Good News About Cancer Survival (4pg)

June 1 is National Cancer Survivors Day. Consider these hopeful statistics:

• The cancer death rate among men decreased almost 20 percent from 1990-2005 and 11.4 percent among women. That means that 650,000 lives were saved during this 15-year period.
• Because the cancer death rate continues to drop, 100,000 people are alive each year who would have died had cancer rates not declined.
• From 1996-2004, the five-year cancer survival rate was 66 percent, compared to just 50 percent in the mid-1970s.
• In men, decreases in the death rate from lung, prostate and colorectal cancer account for almost 80 percent of the decline. For example, the five-year survival rate for prostate cancer has improved from 66 percent in 1975 to over 99 percent in 2005.
• In women, the decrease in death rates for breast and colorectal cancer are the most significant. For example, the five-year survival rate for breast cancer has improved from 75 percent in 1975 to over 90 percent in 2005.

Sources: National Cancer Survivors Day, American Cancer Association, National Cancer Institute