The rise and fall of cancer mortality in the USA: Why does pancreatic cancer not follow the trend?

摘要

After decades of increase, death rates from all cancers combined have been decreasing since the early 1990s among both men and women in the USA. This trend largely reflects the evolution of death rates from the four major cancer sites, in other words, lung, colorectum, female breast and prostate. By contrast, the fourth-leading cause of cancer death in the USA - pancreatic cancer - has not been following the general cancer mortality trend over the years. Specifically, pancreatic cancer death rates have been increasing in both sexes since the early 2000s, after a three-decade decrease in men and a two-decade stable period in women. Reasons for this trend discrepancy between all cancer and pancreatic cancer mortality can be found in all segments of the cancer continuum, from etiology and primary prevention through early detection and screening to treatment and survival.