How many people in the U.S.A. have died from cancer in the ten year
period starting on the first day of 1993 and ending on the last day of
2002?

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Clarification of Question by thalamus-ga on 31 Jul 2004 12:09 PDT

An estimate of the total cancer deaths that occurred in the above time
period would be acceptable as long as it came from a reliable source.

thalamus -- 

Thanks for your clarification.  

Annual estimates of cancer deaths are made by the American Cancer
Society in the form of a table called "Estimated New Cancer Cases and
Death by Sex for All Sites."   For the calendar years 1993 through
2002, the total estimate of cancer deaths totaled 5,514,740.

In case you want or need to look at the individual reports, I have
included links to the online sources I found that contained them (some
were much easier to find than others):

1993 -- 526,000 estimated deaths
National Cancer Institute: 1993 Factbook
http://www3.cancer.gov/public/factbk93/newcsdea.gif

1994 -- 538,000 estimated deaths
National Cancer Institute: 1994 Factbook
http://www3.cancer.gov/public/factbk/newdth.htm

1995 -- 547,000 estimated deaths (citing American Cancer Society)
Cancer Network: Epidemiology of Cancer and Prevention Strategies 
http://www.cancernetwork.com/textbook/morev43.htm

1996 -- 554,740 estimated deaths
National Cancer Institute: 1996 Factbook
http://www3.cancer.gov/admin/fmb/96fbook.pdf

1997 -- 560,000 estimated deaths
National Cancer Institute: 1997 Factbook
http://www3.cancer.gov/public/factbk97/estdeath.htm

1998 -- 564,800 estimated deaths (citing American Cancer Society)
Frontiers in Bioscience: Tumor Statistics
http://www.bioscience.org/atlases/tumpath/3.htm

1999 -- 563,100 estimated deaths
National Cancer Institute: 1999 Factbook
http://www3.cancer.gov/admin/fmb/factbook99/99factbook.pdf

2000 -- 552,200 estimated deaths (citing American Cancer Society)
Cancer Cure.org 
http://www.cancure.org/statistics.htm

2001 -- 553,400 estimated deaths
American Cancer Society : Cancer Facts and Figures: 2001 
http://www.cancer.org/downloads/STT/F&F2001.pdf

2002 -- 555,500 estimated deaths
Mecklenburg County, NC: Cancer Report (citing American Cancer Society)
http://www.charmeck.org/NR/rdonlyres/emfgmbynviayajzbtnnxy2pcntvk2trfg3jy5ia4plmw2kmvapqgu2cw7qvxkxvyz3vvnwbowofo77yaxsp4wvqu5ic/cancer.pdf


Additional Information:

Here is the same information for 2004:
2004 -- 563,700 estimated deaths
American Cancer Society: Cancer Facts and Figures: 2004
http://www.cancer.org/downloads/STT/CAFF_finalPWSecured.pdf


Search Strategy:

I used a variety of Google searches, first to determine that the exact
numbers you asked for are apparently not compiled or published,
presumably for the reasons stated in my comment.  After that
frustrating process, I came upon the American Cancer Society's most
recent estimate with the following Google search:

cancer deaths 2004
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&c2coff=1&q=cancer+deaths+2004

I then used the title of the 2004 estimate as the core of Google
searches aimed at finding similar information for each of the years
that particularly interest you.  Since the title of the report has
changed slightly a few times, the search terms had to remain flexible
enough to target the right document.  Here is one example:

"estimated new cancer cases and deaths" 2002
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&c2coff=1&q=%22estimated+new+cancer+cases+and+deaths%22+2002


I am confident that this is the information you are seeking.  If
anything is unclear, please ask for clarification before rating the
answer.


markj-ga

Excellent research, that was just the answer I was looking for.

As far as I can see, a definitive number of annual cancer deaths
nationally is not compiled (or at least is not reported) by the
organizations that compile cancer statistical data, possibly because
it would be very difficult to do accurately, could be misleading, and
because it is not as useful as data based on the widely varying rates
of incidence and mortality of particular malignancies.

A widely reported annual "estimate" of total cancer deaths of all
types for each current year is made by one leading organization, which
it bases on ongoing statistical work that apparently allows such
estimates to be reasonably reliable.  If, like me, other researchers
cannot find an authoritative number of actual deaths for the period in
question, I would be happy to post my information as an answer.

thalamus -

Thanks much for the kind words, the five stars and the nice tip.

markj-ga

Five million plus is scarry, but perhaps 5%  would have died by now of
old age or a different disease even if they had not contracted cancer.
 People with cancer even after remission have weakend immune systems,
so a different disease may have killed them. even though the remitted
cancer and follow up medication contributed indirectly.   Neil