Over the past several decades, the world of medicine has made huge strides and improvements, especially in the diagnosing and treating of many forms of cancer. Mortality rates for most forms of cancer have been steadily declining.

Here are some examples of how the mortality rates have dropped, or, more accurately, how survivability rates have increased from the mid-1970s to between 2006-2012:

• Pancreatic cancer – 2.5% to 85%
• Liver cancer – 3.4% to 18.1%
• Lung cancer – 12.2% to 18.7%
• Esophageal cancer – 5.0% to 20.5%
• Stomach cancer – 15.2% to 31.1%
• Brain cancer – 22.4% to 35.0%
• Ovarian cancer – 38.0% to 46.4%
• Myeloma – 24.6% to 50.2%
• Leukemia – 34.2% to 62.7%
• Colon cancer – 49.8% to 66.2%
• Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma – 46.5% to 72.6%
• Kidney cancer – 50.1% to 74.7%
• Breast cancer – 74.8% to 90.8%
• Melanoma – 81.9% to 93.2%
• Thyroid cancer – 92.1% to 98.3%
• Prostate cancer – 67.8% to 99.3%
• ALL CANCERS – 50.3% to 66.4%

These figures are definitely encouraging for the millions of people who have been diagnosed with some form of cancer. I’m sure you all know someone who is a cancer survivor and sadly, most of us also know someone who did not survive their cancer.

One of my former supervisors died of leukemia. A number of former co-workers have also died from various cancers, ranging from pancreatic to liver to lymphoma to multiple cancers. The wife of my wife’s oldest nephew died of cervical cancer.

With all of the mostly positive news we hear about cancer and the treatment thereof, leading to increased survivability rates, there is one report that does not bode well for women:

“More women in the U.S. are developing and dying from uterine cancer than they were nearly two decades ago, and black women are ‘disproportionately’ affected, a new report finds.”

“Uterine cancer is one of the few cancers in the U.S. for which incidence and death rates are on the rise, according to the report, published today (Dec. 6) by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Live Science reported in July that death rates for liver cancer are also increasing, even as overall cancer death rates (meaning rates for all combined cancers) are falling.”

“From 1999 to 2015, rates of uterine cancer increased by 12 percent, from around 24 cases per 100,000 women in 1999 to 27 cases per 100,000 women in 2015, the report said. From 1999 to 2016, rates of death from uterine cancer increased by 21 percent, from around 4 deaths per 100,000 women in 1999 to 5 deaths per 100,000 women in 2016.”

“Incidence rates among black women were particularly notable, the report said. For example, although the rates of uterine cancer were the same for white and black women in 2015, black women saw a 46 percent increase from 1999, compared with a 9 percent increase for white women. Black and white women had higher incidence rates of uterine cancer than Alaskan Indian/Native American, Hispanic and Asian/Pacific Island women.”

“What’s more, the report found that black women were ‘approximately twice as likely to die from uterine cancer’ compared with women in other racial and ethnic groups. One potential explanation for this disparity, the authors noted, is that the odds of surviving uterine cancer are higher when the disease is detected at an early stage, but black women were more likely than other women to be diagnosed at a later stage.”

The key to surviving uterine cancer, as well as any other cancer is early detection. It pays to learn the symptoms and then see your doctor as soon as you suspect anything could be wrong. So, ladies, take this post as a warning.