The numbers show cancer death rates dropped from 216 a year per 100,000 population for men in 1975-1979 to 179 from 1995 to 2000. That’s a 17 percent decline.

Death rates for women dropped 19 percent in the same period. Women’s cancer death rates were 145 per 100,000 population from 1975-1979 compared with 117 in 1995-2000.

Today marked the release of Hawai'i Cancer Facts & Figures 2003-2004, produced by the American Cancer Society, the University of Hawai'i Cancer Research Center of Hawai'i and the state Department of Health.

"The challenge of cancer is clear. It is the second-leading cause of death in the state and nation," the report said. Over a six-year period in Hawai'i (1995-2000), close to 5,900 men or boys and 4,500 women or girls died of cancer. That means about 1,700 Hawai'i residents die each year of the disease.

Professor Marc Goodman, a researcher at the UH cancer center, said the report shows positive trends for the state overall. "The good news is our cancer mortality rates are coming down and have been since the ’80s," he said.

"We do have quite low cancer incidence and mortality rates compared to other places," Goodman said.

The data were developed based on U.S. Census Bureau information from the 2000 population count. Another report as detailed won’t be available until 2012 at the earliest.

The report is the first of its kind and intended to examine ethnic differences and other variables to help decide where resources should be focused.

For lung cancer, from 1975 to 1984, the rates for Filipino men remained among the lowest in the state at 43 or 44 cases for every 100,000 population, but the rate continued to increase since then to a high of more than 85 per 100,000 population by 1995-2000.

By contrast, Caucasian men were closer to 100 per 100,000 from 1975 to 1984 but by 1995-2000, the rate had declined to 78 per 100,000. Similarly, the rate started higher for Japanese men in the late 1970s but declined to 55 per 100,000 by 1995-2000.

For female breast cancer statistics, it appears that Japanese and Caucasian women are more likely to have early detection of the disease while Hawaiian and Filipino women are finding out about the disease later in life.