ATLANTA (WAOK) – There’s some encouraging and some discouraging cancer news being reported in a new health study. The American Cancer Society in Atlanta says a decline in the number of people smoking seems to be driving cancer deaths downward but the cancer death rate among African-Americans is still higher than among whites. The gap narrowed substantially over the past decade as the number of smokers fell.

Cancer deaths fell two-point-four-percent for black men, one-point-seven-percent for white men. Among women, death rates to cancer fell equally between black and white women, about one-point-five-percent. The researchers say much of the disparity in the number of deaths can be blamed on access to the latest treatments.

The full study is published in “CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.”