Prostate, bladder cancer death rates still on the decline

Deaths from the two most common urologic cancers in men (prostate and bladder) and the most common urologic cancer in women (bladder cancer) have dropped since the 1990s, according to the Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975-2002, a collaboration among the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Cancer Society, and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries. The report shows that observed cancer death rates from all cancers combined dropped 1.1% per year from 1993 to 2002.

Racial disparities still exist in prostate cancer, the report showed. African-American men have a 200% higher death rate from the disease than Caucasian and other non-Caucasian men.

The most notable trend in prostate cancer treatment from 1986 to 1999 was the decreasing proportion of cases that received watchful waiting, surgical or chemical castration, or hormonal deprivation therapy as primary treatment. More aggressive treatments, including newer radiation techniques, were found to be on the rise. However, African-American men were found to receive substantially less aggressive treatment than Caucasian men.