The rate of new cancer cases in the U.S. appears to be dropping for the first time, according to a report released this week in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. In addition, cancer death rates continue to fall steadily as they have for several years thanks to improvements in both cancer detection and treatment.

The annual "Report to the Nation" on cancer shows that the rate of new cancer diagnoses among men dropped 1.8 percent a year between 2001 and 2005, while the rate for women dropped just over half a percent a year. The drop was seen across all racial groups examined. Also, the cancer death rate among men and women continued to drop, by an average of 1.8 percent a year through 2005. However, cancer remains the second leading cause of death for Americans with only heart disease claiming more lives.

Much of the gains were made in the rates of some leading cancers including breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers. The declines are largely due to increases in cancer screening, and for breast cancer, to a decrease in the use of hormone replacement therapy. Lung cancer rates also decreased but only for men, likely because smoking rates fell for men before they did for women, which allowed men to reap the benefits sooner. In contrast, the rates of lung cancer in women, kidney cancer, melanoma, and several others cancer types continue to rise.

While the declines in cancer rates were small, most between one and four percent, the fact that death rates continue to fall as well suggests that the improvements are real, rather than caused by, for example, people skipping screening appointments, allowing existing cancers to go undetected.

Experts question whether the gains can be maintained in the face of the economic downturn. Declining budgets for cancer research and decreased adherence to cancer screening and surveillance programs threaten to reverse the trend, just as the milestone of a decline in overall cancer rate is finally being attained.

If you are concerned about your cancer risk, talk to your doctor about what you can be doing to decrease your risk. Read the American Cancer Society guidelines for the early detection of cancer at the American Cancer Society’s Website. To get personalized answers to your questions about cancer, ask the experts on Healia Health Communities or join the Healia Health Community for Cancers.

_{Photo: DefMo, Flickr, Creative Commons}