NYT/AP: Cancer Passes Heart Disease as Top Killer (but both decline)

[DeepModem Mom]

Cancer Passes Heart Disease as Top Killer
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: January 20, 2005


For the first time, cancer has surpassed heart disease as the top killer of Americans younger than 85, health officials said yesterday.

The reason is that while the number of deaths from both causes has fallen, the improvement has been more marked for heart disease....

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The shift was described in the American Cancer Society's annual statistical report, released yesterday. In 2002, the most recent year for which information is available, 476,009 Americans younger than 85 died of cancer, compared with 450,637 who died of heart disease....

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The biggest reason for the drop in deaths from both causes, the report found, was that fewer people were smokers. Smoking among American adults fell sharply between 1965 and 2000, to 22 percent from 42 percent.

A third of all cancers are related to smoking, and another third are related to obesity, poor diet and lack of exercise - all factors that also contribute to heart disease....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/20/health/20cancer.html