Melanoma Rates Up in US as Overall Cancer Incidence Falls

While incidence rates are declining for most types of cancer across the US, they are increasing for melanoma among both men and women, according to The American Cancer Society's annual Cancer Statistics report. As of 2009, the overall death rate for cancer in the US has declined 20 percent from its peak in 1991, which translates to roughly 1.2 million deaths avoided from cancer, 152,900 of these in 2009 alone. Death rates continue to decline for all four major cancer sites: lung, colon and rectum (colorectum), breast and prostate. Yet, melanoma remains one of four types of cancer (the others being liver, thyroid, and pancreas) that is increasing in both men and women, according to the report. The authors noted that while the broader drops are encouraging, further progress can be accelerated by applying existing cancer control knowledge across all segments of the population, with an emphasis on those groups in the lowest socioeconomic bracket and other underserved populations.