The cancer death rate for children in the United States has declined sharply, down 20 percent from 1990 to 2004, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a recent report. Better treatment for a host of cancers has boosted survival rates, the CDC said.

The cancer death rate for U.S. children was 34.2 per million for children up to age 19 in 1990, but fell to 27.3 per million in 2004, an annual decline of 1.7 percent per year during this period.

The blood and bone marrow cancers known as leukemia caused about 26 percent of the 2004 cancer deaths, with brain and other nervous system tumors causing another 25 percent. Death rates from leukemia dropped more sharply than other cancers, by 3 percent per year from 1990 to 2004, the CDC said.
U.S. Hispanics have not seen similar declines in children's death rates as other groups, posting a decline of only 1 percent per year during the 15 years studied.

"Studies have documented that Hispanics lack sufficient access to health-care services because of inadequate health insurance coverage, lack of health insurance, poor geographic access to health-care providers, lack of transportation to and from providers, and cultural and linguistic barriers, which might contribute to this disparity," the report concluded.

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