Motorcycle Deaths Continue to Climb: Report

WEDNESDAY, April 24 (HealthDay News) -- An estimated 5,000 motorcyclists were killed on U.S. roads in 2012, an increase of about 9 percent from the previous year, a new report shows.

Last year's number of motorcyclist deaths is near an all-time high, and motorcyclists remain one of the few roadway user groups where no progress has been seen over the past decade, the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) report noted.

"In my state [Oregon], an improving economy and a longer window of nice weather meant there were more riders and riding days. The fatality increase is disheartening. Every motorcyclist deserves to arrive at their destination safely. These numbers represent real people -- they are family, friends and neighbors," Troy Costales, GHSA's immediate past chairman and head of Oregon's highway safety program, said in a GHSA news release.

The projected number of motorcyclist deaths for 2012 is based on state-by-state data for the first nine months of the year. Similar projections in previous years mirrored the final numbers.

Comparing the first nine months of 2011 and 2012, the report found that motorcyclist deaths increased in 34 states last year, decreased in 16 states and remained the same in the District of Columbia. Increases were seen in every region of the country and were quite high in many states. For example, motorcyclist deaths rose 32 percent in Oregon and 29 percent in Indiana.

With the economy improving, more people have disposable income for buying and riding motorcycles, the report noted. At the same time, high gas prices lead to more people buying fuel-efficient vehicles such as motorcycles.

The report also found a decrease in the number of states with laws that require all riders to wear helmets. That number is currently 19, down from 26 in 1997.

"All of the trends with motorcyclist deaths are really going in the wrong direction. This report is an urgent reminder that we must do more to address a problem that will only get worse with increased ridership. We are talking about 5,000 tragedies a year with no sign of progress," GHSA chairman Kendell Poole, director of Tennessee's highway safety program, said in the news release.

"The good news is that we know how to prevent crashes and the resulting injuries and fatalities involving motorcycle riders and their passengers. There are effective strategies that, when implemented, can make a difference," he added.

The report outlined a number of ways to reduce motorcyclist deaths. These include: increasing helmet use; reducing speeding and impaired riding; providing rider training to all who need or want it; ensuring proper licensing of riders; and encouraging all drivers to share the road with motorcyclists.

-- Robert Preidt
Copyright © 2013 HealthDay. All rights reserved. SOURCE: Governors Highway Safety Association, news release, April 24, 2013

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Flu Infections Continue to Decline

Title: Flu Infections Continue to Decline
Category: Health News
Created: 3/8/2013 4:35:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 3/11/2013 12:00:00 AM

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Most Cancer Deaths Continue to Drop

Fewer Americans are dying from cancer.

This is one main take-away from the latest report on cancer death rates and new diagnoses of cancer in the U.S. This decline is seen among men and women across all major racial and ethnic groups, and for 17 of the most common types of cancer including lung, colon, breast, and prostate cancers.

Still, not all of the news from the new report is positive.

Rates of death are on the rise from the potentially fatal form of skin cancer, melanoma, in men; uterine cancer in women; and liver and pancreatic cancer in both sexes. What’s more, the data show a rise in cancers related to human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, and that too few at-risk people are getting the vaccine that can help prevent these cancers.

“There is substantial good news in this report,” says researcher Edgar P. Simard, PhD, MPH. He is a senior epidemiologist in the Surveillance Research Program at the American Cancer Society (ACS) in Atlanta. 

The ACS, CDC, National Cancer Institute, and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR) all contributed to the new report.

Overall, cancer death rates decreased by 1.8% per year among men and by 1.4% per year among women from 2000 to 2009. Death rates among children up to 14 years of age decreased by 1.8% per year.

The reasons that fewer people are dying from cancer are likely earlier detection plus better treatments, Simard says. “With the exception of lung cancer, there are screening tests that can detect precancerous lesions or early cancer for the common types of cancer." And “in the past 10 years, targeted therapies that take into account the genes and molecular characteristics of individuals and tumors have shown promise.”

Some of this decline may also be related to healthier lifestyle choices such as not smoking.

But many outside experts say that we can’t rest on our laurels just yet.

“It is encouraging that the rates are going down, but we would like to see the curves dropping faster and death rates from all cancers declining,” says Leonard B. Saltz, MD. He is the chief of the gastrointestinal medical oncology service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. “We would like to have as few people as possible get cancer in the first place and the highest number of people survive if they do develop cancer.”

The report does find that between 2000 and 2009, overall rates of new diagnoses of cancer decreased by 0.6% per year among men, remained stable among women, and increased by 0.6% per year in children up to 14 years of age.

Cy Aaron Stein, MD, PhD, is worried that budget cutbacks will erode some of the gains seen in the new report. He is the chair of the Department of Medical Oncology and Therapeutics Research at City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, Calf.

“I am delighted, but it is not enough,” he says. “The real question is: Will these decreases continue in today’s financial climate? We know that as go the finances, so goes the [death] rate. There is no question that we have to cut back, because we are going to break the bank if we don’t.”

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