Washington. U.S. cancer death rates are declining due to better screening and treatment and less smoking, but a worrisome rise in breast cancer has fueled a slight increase in cancer cases among women, researchers said Tuesday.

The number of new breast cancer cases increased at a rate of 1.2 % per year from 1992 until 1998, capping an overall jump of 40% over 25 years, researchers said in the Journal of National Cancer Institute.

Breast cancer deaths fell even s doctors diagnosed growing numbers of new cases among white women 50 to 64.

Breast cancer numbers were the driving force behind a 0.3%per year annual increase in overall cancer rates among women from 1992 to 1998. The number of new cases among men fell 2.7% per year in the same period.

Blacks continued to suffer the highest death rates of any racial group and a higher incidence of new cases of many cancers.

While the death toll among black men remained the worst of any category, they experienced the biggest drop in death rates from 1992 to 1998.
(Reuters)