1.5 million new U.S. cancer cases in 2009

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ATLANTA, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- National cancer registry data indicate approximately 1.5 million new U.S. cases of cancer were diagnosed in 2009, federal health officials say.

A report published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report said there was an annual incidence rate of 459 cases of cancer per 100,000 persons in 2009.

Prostate, breast, lung, colon and rectum cancer accounted for 52 percent of all cancers diagnosed in 2009, the report said.

Incidence rates were higher among men at 524 per 100,000 than women at 409 per 100,000 and incidence rates were higher among blacks at 473 per 100,000 largely reflecting differences in incidence rates of cancers of the prostate and female breast, the report said.

By state, cancer incidence rates ranged from 387 to 509 per 100,000 persons, the report said.

These data were based on United States Cancer Statistics, the official annual federal government cancer incidence and mortality statistics for the U.S. population and for individual states, available at www.cdc.gov/uscs.