OAN’s Abril Elfi
11:36 AM – Thursday, November 16, 2023
Youth deaths by cancer in the United States have gone down by roughly 24% in the last two decades.
On Thursday, a report was released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stating that the rate of child and teen cancer deaths in the U.S. fell by 24% between 2001 and 2021.
In the report, death rates for Black, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic white children aged 15 to 19 were examined. According to the analysis, these three categories would account for 92% of all child cancer fatalities in 2021.
Between 2001 and 2011, the death rates for children of all ages in those categories fell. However, only children aged 9 and under experienced “significant” decreases after 2011.
Cancer mortality rates fell 15-17% across the board in the first decade, but only death rates among White children continued to reduce significantly after 2011.
Between 2011 and 2021, the death rates for Hispanic children fell slightly while it increased for Black youths. According to the analysis, by 2021, the rate for White teenagers would be 19-20% lower than for Black and Hispanic counterparts.
The National Vital Statistics System, which tracks death certificate information from across the United States, is utilized in the study.
The researchers examined death certificates of patients under the age of 20 who died from the most frequent types of cancer in that age group: leukemia, brain cancer, and a type of bone cancer known as “bone and articular cartilage cancer.”
Sally Curtin, a CDC statistician and the lead author of the report, said that “the overall message is good news.”
“Death rates declined across the board: all five-year age groups, male, female, and a;; the race groups,” Curtin said.
According to pediatric oncologists, the overall decline is believed to be a cause of advancements in treatments for a wide range of cancers.
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