Death rates for liver cancer have been rising for some time among both men and women, while rates of colon and rectal cancer continue to decline from historic highs in the 1940s, the American Cancer Society reported.
In 2011, the death rate for liver cancer was 10/100,000 population (age-adjusted to the 2000 U.S. standard population) for men and 4.7/100,000 for women. The death rate for men reached its all-time low in 1980, when it was 5.8; for women, the low was 4.1 in 1987-1988. From 2007 to 2011, the overall death rate rose by 2.5% per year, according to the ACS.
“Screening for liver cancer has not been shown to reduce mortality,” the report said. “Nonetheless, many doctors in the U.S. screen individuals at high risk for the disease (e.g., those with cirrhosis) with ultrasound or blood tests.”
Death rates for colorectal cancer went the opposite way over that recent 4-year period – dropping by 2.5% a year overall from 2007 to 2011. The longer-term trend has seen rates for women declining since reaching a high of 35.2/100,000 in 1947, while the rate for men has been dropping since 1980, when it was 34.2. In 2011, the death rates for colorectal cancer were 13.1 in women and 18.5 in men, the ACS reported.
“This trend reflects declining incidence rates and improvements in early detection and treatment,” the ACS said in its report, which used data from the National Center for Health Statistics.
