Opinion: Lung cancer deaths are declining faster than new cases. Advances in treatment are making the difference
This year’s annual release of cancer statistics generated more buzz than usual. Perhaps the most publicized finding in the Cancer Facts & Figures 2020 report was the 2.2% decline in overall cancer deaths from 2016 to 2017, the last year for which we have final statistics. That was the largest ever single-year drop in cancer deaths. Improvement in lung cancer — which accounts for more deaths than breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers combined — was credited with driving the decline.
It wasn’t entirely clear what accounted for the improvement. Of course, tobacco control has been an important contributor: The reduction in smoking in the U.S. has been associated with a large decrease in lung cancer deaths, beginning around 1990 in men and around 2000 in women. But the recent decline in these deaths struck many of us involved in cancer research as being too fast to be explained solely by tobacco control.
