Decrease in prostate CA mortality parallels drop in smoking

(HealthDay)—Declines in prostate cancer mortality seem to parallel declines in cigarette smoking, based on data from four U.S. states. The report was published online April 14 in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Preventing Chronic Disease.

Miranda R. Jones, Ph.D., from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, and colleagues examined state prostate cancer mortality rates in relation to changes in cigarette smoking. Data were included for men aged 35 years or older from California, Kentucky, Maryland, and Utah. Using joinpoint analysis, the authors estimated the average annual percentage change from 1999 through 2010.

The researchers found that smoking declined by 3.5 percent per year from 1999 through 2010 in California, and the prostate cancer mortality rate decreased by 2.5 percent per year. Smoking decreased by 3.0 percent and prostate cancer mortality rates by 3.5 percent per year in both Kentucky and Maryland. In Utah, the decreases were 3.5 and 2.1 percent per year, respectively. There were no corresponding patterns for external causes of death.

"Declines in prostate cancer mortality rates appear to parallel declines in smoking prevalence at the population level," the authors write. "This study suggests that declines in prostate cancer mortality rates may be a beneficial effect of reduced smoking in the population."

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