Deaths due to cancer decline in US

The number of deaths due to cancer has declined in the US. According to calculations between 1991 and 2008, over one million deaths from the disease were avoided, the American Cancer Society has said.

The number of deaths among men came down by 23 percent while the decline in women deaths was only 15 percent, according to a new report titled "Cancer Statistics, 2012".

Ahmedin Jemal, co-author of the study, said the decline in cancer deaths was due to progress in cancer prevention, its early detection and cure.

By types, cancer of the lung, colon, breast and prostate, which were more common, all continued to decline.

However, the study emphasised that the less common cancers -- such as cancer of the pancreas, liver, thyroid and kidney -- increased over the past decade.

Causes of the disease include tobacco use, a practice that was responsible for a third of the deaths, while another third were linked to being overweight, physical inactivity and poor nutrition.

The statistics revealed that African-Americans still showed higher rates of cancer than whites -- by 33 percent in men and by 16 in women.

Projections made by the study said that during 2012, around 1.6 million new cases of cancer were expected to be diagnosed in the US, and there would be around 580,000 deaths from the disease over the course of the year.