The most recent annual report released by the American Cancer Society on Thursday revealed that cancer has become the leading cause of death in 22 states in the year 2014.

Though overall heart diseases remain the primary cause of death in the US, it is reducing at a very rapid rate. Death rates for both the causes have been declining since 25 years, but deaths rate due to heart diseases has been reducing at a faster rate. Highest deaths due to cancer are also specific to certain races like Hispanics and Asians and also to the age group of 40-79 years.

A reduction of 23% has been noted in the cancer death rate since 1991, which means that over 1.7 million lives got saved through 2012. During the same period, mortality rate for heart diseases was down by 46%.

According to Dr. Otis Brawley, the American Cancer Society’s Chief Medical Officer, the reduction in cancer mortality rate has been driven by reduction in smoking and tobacco usage. Advancement in treatment and detection techniques has also helped in the reduction.

During the last decade, cancer death rate annually reduced by 1.8% in males and 1.4% in females. The decline is attributed to continuous fall in mortality rates due to lung, breast, prostate and colon/rectum cancers. Breast cancer mortality rate has decreased by 36% since 1989, while prostate and colorectal cancer death rates have each declined by approximately 50%, owing to early discovery of the disease and better methods of treatment.

"We have a large number of people who, even though they get health care, they get inadequate health care. If we could improve those logistics, we could decrease the death rate from cancer even more," said Brawley. In 2016, 1,685,210 cases and 595,690 deaths are likely to occure due to cancer, according to the report.