California

Rates of Cancer Deaths and New Cancers Dip in California, U.S.: CDC Report

The rate of new cancer cases and cancer deaths dipped slightly in California in 2014, matching a nationwide trend, according to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the U.S. in 2014, the latest year for which incidence data are available, 1,596,486 new cases of cancer were diagnosed, and 591,686 people died of cancer, the data show.

During the same year in California, there were 163,874 new cases of cancer, or 399.6 per 100,000 people. That rate fell from a five-year average (2010-2014) of 417.0 per 100,000 Californians.

The same year, 58,410 people died of cancer in California, a rate of 144.4 per 100,000 people, down from a five-year average rate of 149.7.

California ranked 44th in the nation both in rate of new cancers and rate of cancer deaths. Kentucky ranked at the top of both lists.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, exceeded only by heart disease. One of every four deaths in the United States is due to cancer.

Breast cancer was the leading type of cancer in California and nationwide.

While cancer impacts people of all ages, races and sexes, it does not always affect them equally, the CDC said. Differences in genetics, hormones, environmental exposures and other factors can lead to differences in risk among different groups of people.

For most cancers, though, increasing age is the most important risk factor, the report showed.

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