Death rates for most cancers—especially lung cancer and melanoma—continue to decline among men and women of all racial and ethnic groups in the United States, according to the latest Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, published in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

However, death rates for colorectal and female breast cancer declined at a slower rate than in previous years, and death rates for prostate cancer leveled off. Death rates for some cancers, including those of the brain and pancreas, actually increased. The study looked at the years 2001 to 2018, so it does not include data related to the COVID-19 pandemic.