Colon cancer deaths continue to drop across America — except in Mississippi, health officials said Tuesday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a report that echoes earlier findings of a national decline in colon cancer deaths. Rates fell by as much as 5 and 6 percent in a few states — Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Mississippi was the only state that saw no real decline, according to the CDC report. “The big picture is screenings are up, death rates are down, and even more progress is possible,” said the CDC’s director, Dr. Thomas Frieden.
» Read more: Colon cancer deaths down except in Mississippi

Lifestyle changes such as losing weight, drinking less alcohol and getting more exercise could lead to a substantial reduction in breast cancer cases across an entire population, according to a new model that estimates the impact of these modifiable risk factors.

Although such models are often used to estimate breast cancer risk, they are usually based on things that women can’t change, such as a family history of breast cancer. Up to now, there have been few models based on ways women could reduce their risk through changes in their lifestyle.
» Read more: Lifestyle Changes Might Alter Breast Cancer Rates

Too many doctors are testing the wrong women, or using the wrong test, for a virus that causes cervical cancer. The days of one-size-fits-all screening for cervical cancer are long gone. How often to get a Pap smear — and whether to be tested for the cancer-causing HPV virus at the same time — now depend on your age and other circumstances.

But a government study reports Monday that a surprising number of doctors and clinics aren’t following guidelines from major medical groups on how to perform HPV checks, suggesting a lot of women are getting unnecessary tests. That wastes money and could harm women who wind up getting extra medical care they didn’t need, says Dr. Mona Saraiya of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who led the research.
» Read more: Docs overtesting for cervical cancer virus

The gap in cancer death rates between college graduates and those who only went to high school is widening, the American Cancer Society reported Friday. Among men, the least educated died of cancer at rates more than 2 1/2 times that of men with college degrees, the latest data show. In the early 1990s, they died at two times the rate of most-educated men.

For women, the numbers aren’t as complete but suggest a widening gap also. The data, from 2007, compared people between the ages of 25 and 64. People with college degrees are seeing a significant drop in cancer death rates, while people who have spent less time in school are seeing more modest improvements or sometimes none at all, explained Elizabeth Ward, who oversees research done by the cancer society.
» Read more: Cancer death rate gap widens based on education

Cancer patients who are given full access to their medical records feel a greater sense of satisfaction about their treatment, a new study finds. The French researchers also found that providing comprehensive and accurate medical information built trust between patient and doctor. Published online May 23 in the journal Cancer, the study analyzed 295 patients recently diagnosed with lymphoma, breast or colon cancer. All were being treated with chemotherapy.

The patients received either “on request information” or an organized medical record (OMR) — a briefcase full of detailed information about their condition and treatment. That information included reports on everything from surgery to radiology and pathology results, along with nurse narratives and treatment observations. Along with the OMR, they were given guides on medical terms and how to understand the material, as well as help from medical staff to decipher the various documents.
» Read more: Cancer Patients Benefit From Full Access to Medical Records

Early diagnosis, improved treatments and an aging population have combined to boost the number of cancer survivors in the United States to nearly 12 million, the US government said Thursday.

The current total of 11.7 million people who have at one time in their lives faced a diagnosis of cancer is four times the level of cancer survivors in 1971 when it was three million, said a report by the Centers for Disease Control.
» Read more: Number of US cancer survivors nears 12 million