McClatchy-Tribune Information Services -- Unrestricted
12-08-09
Cancer rates and deaths from the most common forms of the disease are dropping, but not nearly as fast as experts would like.
Incidence decreased about 1 percent a year from 1999 to 2006 and deaths dropped an average of 1.6 percent a year from 2001 to 2006 according to a report released today by the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Cancer Society and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries.
The decreases were driven largely by drops in incidence and death linked to the most common cancers in men and women, including lung, prostate, breast and colorectal. Meanwhile, incidence of some cancers -- including kidney, liver and skin -- has gone up.
"It's very slow. I think the rate is unacceptable. It's a drop in the bucket," said Dr. Michael Caligiuri, director of Ohio State University's Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Take, for instance, colorectal cancer. Only about half of those who should be undergoing colonoscopies actually get them, he said.
Economics explains some of that, but not all, Caligiuri said.
"We need to study this. We need to talk to the people who got it done and talk to the people who didn't get it done and say, 'Why didn't you do this?'
"(Doctors) need to look at ourselves and say 'What are we doing that is preventing these other 50 percent from not getting screening?' "
Better screening and wider-spread use of optimal treatment could drive down colorectal cancer death rates much more significantly, according to the report written by Brenda Edwards of the NCI's surveillance research program.
In terms of what individuals can do, much attention in this report -- and in the field of cancer research overall -- is given to lifestyle changes, particularly reduction in obesity. Being overweight or obese is thought to contribute to a variety of cancers, including colon.
After decades of efforts to lower tobacco use, Edwards points out, reductions in lung cancer incidence have been seen.
Also yesterday, a group of experts spoke about cancer prevention efforts as part of the American Association for Cancer Research conference on the topic in Houston.
"Diet is one of those relatively few modifiable risk factors that is associated with a change in cancer incidence and tumor behavior," said John Milner, chief of the National Cancer Institute's nutritional science research group.
Thirty percent of cancers are related to dietary habits, he said.
"There's a lot we can do to prevent cancer as we become more fit and turn around the obesity epidemic," said Dr. Tim Byers, associate dean of the Colorado School of Public Health and interim director of the Colorado Cancer Center.
In addition to looking at the connection between weight and cancer, there is a lot of focus on specific dietary compounds and how they influence cancer incidence.
"There's probably not enough fish in the sea for all of us to eat as much fish as we should get," said Elaine Hardman, associate professor of medicine at Marshall University School of Medicine.
Much of Hardman's work focuses on fats found in fish and nuts.
The good news: the fats found in fish originate in plants, said Hardman, who has studied mice that are fed canola oil.
Some research is even pointing to a connection between the nutrients absorbed before birth and subsequent cancer susceptibility, she said. To see more of The Columbus Dispatch, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.columbusdispatch.com. Copyright (c) 2009, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
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