Cancer Mortality

Abstract

THE June issue of the Statistical Bulletin, the organ of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company of New York, contains an editorial based on a series of observations extending over a number of decades, from which the following conclusions emerge. While the recorded mortality among males from all forms of cancer has shown an increase by about one third in the course of thirty years, the rate among females has changed but little. Towards the end of the period there has been some improvement among females, while there has been a slackening in the upward trend for males. The result has been that the rates for males and females at ages 1-74 which widely differed in 1911-15 have converged to a common level of 86-8 per 100,000 in the quinquennium 1936-40. A substantial cause of the rise in cancer mortality among males is probably due to improved diagnosis-a supposition confirmed by a consideration of the mortality from cancer of the various organs. Since 1911 mortality of cancer of the peritoneum, intestines and rectum has practically doubled in the case of males and increased by about 50 percent in females. The mortality from cancer of the pancreas and prostate has also risen sharply. The rise in the death-rate from cancer of the lung and pleura has been attributed to improvement in diagnostic technique. The most hopeful outlook occurs in the case of those organs which are readily accessible such as the female genital organs, the skin and mouth, in each of which the mortality has declined since 1911. Cancer of the breast is exceptional in that, in spite of its accessibility, its mortality has increased during the thirty years. The improvement due to early recognition and treatment of suspected growths is illustrated by the fact that the American College of Surgeons has records of more than 36,000 cases of so-called “cured” cancer.