November 26, 2008, IR Summary/NYT - The rate of Cancer cases are noted to be falling each year from 1999-2005 in the United States, which is probably the first time decline, by an average of 0.8 percent as per data made available by National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society and other research institutes. 

It's natural, when cancer cases have reduced, the death rates are equally affected, a trend that began some 15 years ago.

"Each year that you see these steady declines it gives you more confidence that we're moving in the right direction," said Dr. John E. Niederhuber, director of the National Cancer Institute, who is not an author of the report. "This is not just a blip on the screen."

Death rates from cancer fell an average of 1.8 percent each year from 2002 to 2005, according to the new report. Although last year's report said death rates dropped an average of 2.1 percent each year from 2002 to 2004, a modest 1 percent decline in 2005 lowered the average percentage for the period.

The decline is primarily due to a reduction in death rates from certain common cancers, including prostate cancer and lung cancer in men, breast cancer in women and colorectal cancer in both sexes.

The report attributes the reductions to adoption of healthier lifestyles and improved screening, as well as advances in treatment.

The drop in annual incidence rates is harder to interpret. The data may point to a real decline in the occurrence of some types of cancer, experts said. Alternatively, the decline may reflect inconsistent screening practices, causing some cancers that used to be detected to now go undiagnosed.

Breast cancer incidence rates decreased by 2.2 percent annually from 1999 to 2005, for example, a drop some researchers attributed to large numbers of women quitting hormone replacement therapy after a national study linked it to breast cancer in 2002.

Yet mammography rates have also fluctuated in recent years, meaning that some breast cancer cases may be going undetected, said Ahmedin Jemal, the strategic director for cancer surveillance at the American Cancer Society.

The incidence of prostate cancer declined by 4.4 percent a year from 2001 to 2005, after annual increases of 2.1 percent a year for several years, Dr. Jemal said. Yet prostate screening rates, too, have leveled off in recent years.

"This might not be good news," Dr. Jemal said. "It's always difficult to interpret the incidence rate."

Christine Eheman, chief of the cancer surveillance branch at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was more optimistic about the decline in cancer diagnoses.

"I do think it's a good sign," Dr. Eheman said, "but I think we need to be very careful not to think we have this problem in any way beaten. We need to continue to do what we know works, and also find out why some cancers are not decreasing and not decreasing in certain populations."  More