Cancer deaths have dropped to 158.6 per 100,000 people, a rate that is 26% lower than that in 1991.

Recent data released by the American Cancer Society, pointed out that in 2015, the most recent year with available data, cancer deaths dropped to 158.6 per 100,000 people, a rate that is 26% lower than that in 1991, and equates to about 2.4 million fewer deaths.

“It’s the low-hanging fruit,” said Ahmedin Jemal, the cancer group’s vice president of surveillance and health services research. “We’re going to continue to see this decline because of prevention, primarily reduction in smoking prevalence.”

The advent of e-cigs known to have contributed to the decreased smoking rates

A study published last Summer titled E-cigarette use and associated changes in population smoking cessation: evidence from US current population surveys, which was carried out by researchers from the University of California, indicated that the increase in vaping corresponds to a decrease in smoking rates.

The researchers looked at data from the 2014-15 CPS-TUS survey, when e-cigarettes were more prevalent. Out of the 161,054 respondents that did complete the survey, 22,548 were current smokers and 2136 recent quitters. A significant 38.2% of current smokers and 49.3% of recent quitters had tried e-cigarettes, and 11.5% and 19.0% respectively, were current vapers.

“The substantial increase in e-cigarette use among US adult smokers was associated with a statistically significant increase in the smoking cessation rate at the population level.” Study Abstract

“The substantial increase in e-cigarette use among US adult smokers was associated with a statistically significant increase in the smoking cessation rate at the population level”, said the researchers. As public health experts have been pointing out, the combined results of these and other studies, suggest that electronic cigarettes have the potential to save millions of lives.

Read Further: Bloomberg