A breast cancer patient receives a trial medication treatment in the infusion center at the UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center August 18, 2005 in San Francisco, California.
Cancer death rates have declined steadily over the past several decades, falling by nearly a third since the early 1990s, according to a report published Wednesday by the American Cancer Society.
From 1991 to 2017, overall cancer deaths dropped by 29%, estimated at nearly 3 million avoided deaths, NBC News reported.
Declines in mortality for four major cancers — breast, colon, lung and prostate — contributed largely to the decades-long drop, with improved lung cancer survival playing a particularly significant role, according to the society's annual look at cancer death rates, published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.
Deaths from lung cancer dropped by 51% among men since the early 1990s and by 26% among women since the early 2000s.
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