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Death rate from cancers still dropping
But diagnoses have stabilized, officials report
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tucson, Arizona - 12.23.2005 - WASHINGTON — The rate of cancer cases diagnosed in the United States has leveled off, but the cancer death rate continues to decline, including the four most common types of cancer — prostate, breast, lung and colorectal — the National Cancer Institute said Thursday.
Americans are taking some steps to help prevent cancer, the agency said, and the use of some screening tests is at high rates in an effort to detect cancers early.
"The overall message of the report remains positive," institute Director Andrew C. von Eschenbach said in releasing the report. "The evidence that I have seen convinces me that we are poised to make dramatic gains against cancer in the near future."
The rate of new cases of cancer was 488.6 per 100,000 Americans in 2002, close to the rate of 488.1 a year earlier, according to the report, which is updated every other year.
At the same time, the death rate for all cancers was 193.6 per 100,000, down from 195.7 a year earlier and continuing a steady downward trend.
For the four most common cancers, the death rates were:
- Prostate, 28.0 per 100,000, down from 28.9.
- Breast, 25.4, down from 26.0.
- Colorectal, 19.6, down from 20.1.
- Lung, 54.8, down from 55.2.
The report charts progress against goals set for reducing cancer rates and deaths by 2010. The first report was issued in 2001.
This year's update noted a continuing rise in lung cancer death rates in women, but said it was not increasing as rapidly as in the past.
The institute, a part of the National Institutes of Health, said there have been continuing increases in the incidence of cancers of the breast in women and of prostate and testicles in men, as well as leukemia, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, myeloma, melanoma of skin, and cancers of the thyroid, kidney, and esophagus.
There have been some improvements in behavior aimed at preventing cancers, including reductions in smoking and declines in alcohol and fat consumption, the institute said in its biannual report on progress in battling cancer.
Some of the same data were included in the institute's annual report issued in October.
Smoking by youths, which had been growing in the 1990s, has been declining since 1997, the report said.
Youths are starting to smoke later, with average age for first use of cigarettes at 15.4 in 2003, up from 14.9 a decade earlier. And the percentage of high schoolers who smoked cigarettes fell from 30.5 percent to 21.9 percent in the same period.
The use of screening tests for breast and cervical cancers is high and remained stable between 2000 and 2003. As of 2003, 69.7 percent of women over 40 had had a mammogram in the last two years, up from just 29 percent in 1987. And 79.2 percent had a pap test for cervical cancer, up from 73.7.
However, the institute said, screening for colorectal cancer remains low. Just 43.4 percent of adults over 50 had endoscopies as of 2003, but that was up from 27.3 percent in 1987.
People are doing slightly more to protect themselves from the sun, with 60.6 percent of people 18 and over saying they had taken steps to prevent sun exposure, compared with 53.6 percent in 1992.
Spending on cancer treatment continues to rise along with total health-care spending.
And the report noted that blacks and people with low socioeconomic status have the highest rates of both new cancers and cancer deaths.
Mesothelioma Search Engine to Consolidate Medical and Legal Information
New lung cancer search engine provides information on medical and legal web sites for those researching this asbestos-caused killer cancer
Minneapolis, MN, February 25, 2006 --(PR.COM)-- On the one-year anniversary of the launch of their Vioxx Search Engine, Nielsen Technical Services today announced the launch of their Mesothelioma Search Engine.
Niche search engines or vertical search engines have increased in popularity, but the time and expense of creating and maintaining a search engine for a highly vertical segment of an available search audience is generally not a good investment financially. When asked about the financial viability of such a site, owner Chris Nielsen said, “We have some interested parties that would like to be associated with us and are exploring those options, but will not compromise our values for the sake of making a buck. The massive amount of money the asbestos and mesothelioma lawyers are spending have resulted in a feeding frenzy which has spawned thousands of sites and millions of pages of fluff, trash, and recycled content. I admit our site is expected to carry ads at some point, but that is not the reason for creating the site.”
Nielsen was then asked the reason for creating such a site. “I just could not find a central source to go for information where sites were not bidding or competitively optimizing for position and search engine ranking. Search engines are fighting to maintain relevancy but they are having problems. Many ‘scraper sites’ are only looking to get visitors that will click on ads to reach real content. If you try a search for ‘mesothelioma’ it should be clear what the problem is.”
As with their Vioxx medical and legal search engine, Mesothelioma Search Engine will carry no paid search engine results or paid inclusion of sites. The site has a form for visitors to suggest sites. The list of sites included in the index is posted on the site and available for download, a feature not offered by other search engines.
The company is indexing selected sites for those looking for more information such as patients, researchers, families, doctors, pharmacists, students, and those in the legal profession. This site is offered as a public service for those looking for information related to medical and legal information on mesothelioma lung cancer, or asbestos lung cancer for which there is no cure and is caused by exposure to asbestos fibers or asbestos dust.
About Nielsen Technical Services
The company is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota and has been providing computer and software services since 1988. The Internet has transformed the company from a hardware services company into Internet consulting and specializes in search engine optimization.
Contact:
Chris Nielsen
Mesothelioma Search Engine
952-943-0170
webmaster@Mesothelioma-Search-Engine.com
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