Americans learned yesterday that cancer has surpassed heart disease as
the leading killer of Americans under age eighty-five. So says Cancer
Facts & Figures 2005 by the American Cancer Society. While this may
at first seem to be a scary indication that the rate of death from
cancer has been rising significantly (as many of today's headlines
proclaiming cancer the new "leading killer" imply), the truth about
recent trends should actually cause more comfort than alarm.

The rate of cancer death in Americans under eighty-five has actually
declined in recent years, due to improved prevention, detection, and
treatment of cancer. However, the rate of heart disease deaths has
decreased even more so, mostly due to lower smoking rates. Because of
the greater decline in rates of heart disease deaths, cancer now has
the dubious distinction of being America's "top killer."

Obviously, while the declines in death rates from both cancer and heart
disease are good news, the still-high death rates are hardly cause for
celebration. Since both diseases have many modifiable risk factors, we
should not let the trends cause complacency. Lung cancer,
approximately 90% of which is due to smoking, continues to be the top
cause of cancer death. The American Cancer Society's report estimates
that about a third of America's cancer deaths in 2005 will be due to
tobacco use and another third will be related to nutrition, overweight,
obesity, and physical inactivity. Modifying these cancer risk factors
can also greatly reduce the risk of heart disease. Therefore, while
the current trends among those under age eighty-five are positive, they
reinforce the value of addressing these main risk factors in order to
further reduce the prevalence of Americans' two top causes of death.

((For a version of this posting which includes hyperlinks, see
http://www.acsh.org/factsfears/newsID.497/news_detail.asp ))

Rivka Weiser
American Council on Science and Health

Resources on smoking:
- Kicking Butts in the 21st Century: What Modern Science Has Learned
About Smoking Cessation (
http://www.acsh.org/publications/pubID.220/pub_detail.asp )
- www.TheScooponSmoking.org
- Cigarettes: What the Warning Label Doesn't Tell You (
http://www.acsh.org/publications/pubID.206/pub_detail.asp )

Resources on nutrition and physical activity:
- ACSH.org's Nutrition/Lifestyle section (
http://www.acsh.org/healthissues/categoryID.5/category_detail.asp )
- Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2005 (
http://www.healthierus.gov/dietaryguidelines/ )
- The President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports
(www.fitness.gov)

From:	Sbharris[atsign]ix.netcom.com
Subject:	Re: Good News about America's Top Killers
Date:	21 Jan 2005 18:52:22 -0800

>>Well can you tell me just what in God's name are we SUPPOSED to die
of?<<

COMMENT:

Well, if you must know---

Realistically, getting cancer at an advanced age is a pretty good way
to go. Not as good as a sudden MI in the middle of the night from
unexpected and previously unnoticed vascular disease. And not as good
as being shot by a jealous husband at the age of 97. But pretty good.

The thing that makes cancer at advanced age stand out as
epidemiologically desirably, is that cancer compresses morbility time
before death pretty well. Most people need institutional or total
nursing care less than a couple of months. They actually die of
malnutrition and infection as proximate causes, and these are usually
not painful. Nor, half the time at least, is the cancer itself.

People WANT to die of heart disease, but the problem with that is, half
the time heart disease doesn't kill people right away, but makes them
go through a long series of heart attacks and surgeries and periods of
recovery and sometimes outright dependency with chronic heart failure.
There's no way to insure that coronary disease will kill quickly and
without long illness, and usually it doesn't. On the whole cancer's a
lot faster. once you get sick.

The other main causes of death related to aging are morbidity and
institutional care disasters. Stroke and all kinds of dementia are, for
obvious reasons, nightmares for both patients and health care planners.
Osteoporosis and hip fracture also, for the same reasons.

As for infection due to immune decline with aging, it seems to be a
proximate cause of death but is usally secondary to something else
underlying. Most people otherwise healthy and mobile are pretty
resistant to dying of infection. Most infections nail people who've
become immobilized with malnutrician/cancer, hip fracture,
dementia/stroke, and so on. They generally consist of pneumonias and
the urosepsis which takes off anybody immobilized, who has a chronic
catheter for incontinence.

Cheefully,

SBH

From:	Huge
Subject:	Re: Good News about America's Top Killers
Date:	22 Jan 2005 11:46:59 GMT

"Sbharris[atsign]ix.netcom.com" writes:
>>>Well can you tell me just what in God's name are we SUPPOSED to die
>of?<<
>
>COMMENT:
>
>Well, if you must know---
>
>Realistically, getting cancer at an advanced age is a pretty good way
>to go. Not as good as a sudden MI in the middle of the night from
>unexpected and previously unnoticed vascular disease. And not as good
>as being shot by a jealous husband at the age of 97. But pretty good.

I couldn't disagree more. My father is dying of a GBM. "Good" is not
a word I would use in any way, shape or form about this disease. It's
a disgusting, evil, vile way to die. If I'm ever told I have one, I shall
be booking my trip to Switzerland(*) a few weeks later.

(* Assisted suicide is legal there, as it should be in all societies that
have the arrogance to call themselves "civilised".)

--
"The road to Paradise is through Intercourse."
[email me at huge [at] huge [dot] org [dot] uk]

From:	R. Weiser
Subject:	Re: Good News about America's Top Killers
Date:	20 Jan 2005 14:07:41 -0800

Yes - obviously SOMETHING is going to be the leading cause of death.
The point with these stats, though, is that the death rates are for
those *age 85 and under.* So reducing these particular death rates from
cancer and heart disease would mean preventing earlier deaths (before
age 85) so that people are dying at an older age (of these causes, or
any others).

-Rivka Weiser

From:	PF Riley
Subject:	Re: Good News about America's Top Killers
Date:	Thu, 20 Jan 2005 21:12:04 -0800

On 20 Jan 2005 14:07:41 -0800, "R. Weiser" wrote:

>Yes - obviously SOMETHING is going to be the leading cause of death.
>The point with these stats, though, is that the death rates are for
>those *age 85 and under.* So reducing these particular death rates from
>cancer and heart disease would mean preventing earlier deaths (before
>age 85) so that people are dying at an older age (of these causes, or
>any others).

You realize, of course, that not everyone would agree with you that
our ultimate goal is to get everyone to live to be as old as they
possibly can, right?

PF

From:	James Stein
Subject:	Re: Good News about America's Top Killers
Date:	Fri, 21 Jan 2005 14:33:12 GMT

"PF Riley" wrote in message
news:fi31v09lchduekr4fmmlt0159v4dluutvj@4ax.com...
> On 20 Jan 2005 14:07:41 -0800, "R. Weiser" wrote:
>
>>Yes - obviously SOMETHING is going to be the leading cause of death.
>>The point with these stats, though, is that the death rates are for
>>those *age 85 and under.* So reducing these particular death rates from
>>cancer and heart disease would mean preventing earlier deaths (before
>>age 85) so that people are dying at an older age (of these causes, or
>>any others).
>
> You realize, of course, that not everyone would agree with you that
> our ultimate goal is to get everyone to live to be as old as they
> possibly can, right?

The goal of any medical professional is to allow the longest and most
comfortable life possible for his patients. While some medical professionals
believe in "mercy killing", that is simply because they value the quality of
life over the length of life; they still value primarily those two
qualities. Certainly other people have other goals - teen angst in specific
loves to rave about how we're oh-so-stupid for trying to make everyone live
longer - but those other people usually are not practicing members of any
medical field.

From:	Steph
Subject:	Re: Good News about America's Top Killers
Date:	Fri, 21 Jan 2005 06:07:09 GMT

From:	Sbharris[atsign]ix.netcom.com
Subject:	Re: Good News about America's Top Killers
Date:	21 Jan 2005 18:37:36 -0800

>>We're already halfway there. We haven't found out how to always make
people
live longer, but we certainly know how to always make it seem
longer.......... <<

That's an old joke but a goodie. If you give up red meat and alcohol
you may or may not live longer, but it will certainly SEEM like
longer...

From:	PF Riley
Subject:	Re: Good News about America's Top Killers
Date:	Thu, 20 Jan 2005 13:30:23 -0800

On 20 Jan 2005 13:11:12 -0800, "R. Weiser" wrote:
>
>Obviously, while the declines in death rates from both cancer and heart
>disease are good news, the still-high death rates are hardly cause for
>celebration. Since both diseases have many modifiable risk factors, we
>should not let the trends cause complacency.

Well can you tell me just what in God's name are we SUPPOSED to die
of?

PF

From:	Sbharris[atsign]ix.netcom.com
Subject:	Re: Good News about America's Top Killers
Date:	22 Jan 2005 14:54:16 -0800

There will always be exceptions, and please note what I said about
stroke and dementia. Cancers of the brain in many ways model those
better than they do other cancers, so of course it's not the same
clinical picture. Brain and bone lessions are mostly what give cancer a
bad name.

SBH