The death rate from cancer dropped 27 percent during the past 25 years, according to a new report from the American Cancer Society. The statistics show that 2.6 million deaths have been avoided from 1991 to 2016.

Key factors that have contributed to the decline in the cancer death rate include reduced smoking and advances in early detection and treatment. Lung cancer deaths among men declined 48 precent from 1990 to 2016 and dropped 23 percent for women from 2002 to 2016. Still, lung cancer accounts for 25 percent of all cancer deaths. The report notes that “women began smoking in large numbers many years later than men and were slower to quit.”

The report also states:

Breast cancer death rates declined 40 percent from 1989 to 2016 among women. The progress is attributed to improvements in early detection.

Prostate cancer death rates declined 51 percent from 1993 to 2016 among men. Routine screening with the PSA blood test is no longer recommended because of concerns about high rates of over-diagnosis (finding cancers that would never need to be treated). Therefore, fewer cases of prostate cancer are now being detected.

Colorectal cancer death rates declined 53 percent from 1970 to 2016 among men and women because of increased screening and improvements in treatment. However, in adults younger than age 55, new cases of colorectal cancer have increased almost 2 percent per year since the mid-1990s.

Prostate, lung and colorectal cancers remain the most common cancers diagnosed in men and prostate cancer is responsible for one in every five new cases. Breast, lung and colorectal cancer are the three most common cancers for women. These cancers are responsible for the greatest number of cancer deaths, the report details.

According to the ACS: “A total of 1,762,450 new cancer cases and 606,880 deaths from cancer are expected to occur in the US in 2019. During the most recent decade of available data (2006-2015), the rate of new cancer diagnoses decreased by about 2 percent per year in men and stayed about the same in women. The cancer death rate (2007-2016) declined by 1.4 percent per year in women and 1.8 percent per year in men.”

Overall men had a 34 percent total decline in cancer mortality, and women had a 24 percent decline during the 25-year period.

The report did contain some troubling information, including an increase in endometrial cancer, which more than half the time is attributed to obesity, according to the Wall Street Journal.

“We are probably only seeing the tip of the iceberg regarding the influence of the obesity epidemic on cancer rates,” said Rebecca Siegel, strategic director of surveillance information services at the American Cancer Society and lead author of the new report.

The researchers said that we can reduce cancer rates by living a healthier lifestyle and exercising with 71 percent of liver cases preventable through lifestyle changes that include losing weight, not smoking, and preventing infection from the hepatitis B and C viruses.

The study was published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians