Cancer rates mixed, but mortality drops

New cases of cancer are decreasing in adults and increasing in children statewide, though survival rates are improving across the board, according to a new report.

The California HealthCare Foundation found new cancer cases among adults dropped from 456 per 100,000 adults in 1989 to 413 per 100,000 adults in 2009, according to California Watch. Meanwhile, new cancer cases among children rose from 15.4 cases per 100,000 children to 17.3 cases per 100,000 children. However, the mortality rate decreased by 22 percent among adult cancer patients and by 50 percent among children battling cancer. Tina Clarke Dur, of the Cancer Prevention Institute of California, attributed the decrease in adult cancer to efforts to curb California’s smoking rates.

Racial disparities remain, as blacks were found 30 to 90 percent more likely to die from cancers of all types than whites.