Rates of new cancer diagnoses and deaths among American men and women have dropped for the first time, according to a report published in the current issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Starting 1998, the American Cancer Society, in conjunction with the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries have released an Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer. This is the very first time when the annual report reveals a decline in overall cancer death rates, the authors said.

However, although rate of cancer cases drops, the disease remains the second killer of U.S. people, as more than 500,000 cases of cancer-related deaths are reported each year.

While the incidence of new cancer cases between 2001 and 2005 diminished in men by 1.8% a year, the incidence among women dropped by 0.6% a year between 1998 and 2005, the report said.

From 1993 to 2001, cancer death rates among men declined by 1.5% every year and from 2001 to 2005 they dropped by 2%. As far as women are concerned, overall cancer death rates decreased by 0.8% every year from 1994 to 2002 and by 1.6% a year from 2002 to 2005.

The drop in cancer rates "is a significant milestone," according to Otis W. Brawley, chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society (ACS). "It is a really big deal."