Death rates from cancer have continued to drop in the United States, with Hispanics showing lower-than-average rates of most cancers, according to the latest statistics published on Wednesday.

But the rate of new cancer diagnoses did not change in 2003, the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, the National Cancer Institute, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in their annual joint report.

"Information in this report about lower Latino cancer rates is very encouraging but also points to the urgent need to educate people about the ways to reduce their cancer risk and keep rates such as these as low as possible," NCI Director Dr. John Niederhuber said in a statement.

The report showed death rates fell for 11 of the 15 most common cancers in men and for 10 of the 15 most common cancers in women. This is in part due to lower rates of smoking, better screening and more effective treatments.

"We need to enhance efforts to reduce tobacco use in women so that the rate of decline in cancer death rates becomes comparable to that of men," said Betsy Kohler, president of the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, Inc.

Rates of colorectal cancer, uterine cancer, stomach and cervical cancer all continued to fall in 2003, the report found. Among men, lung cancer rates have fallen while they have risen among women.

Men had higher rates of prostate cancer, myeloma, leukemia, cancers of the liver, kidney and esophagus in 2003.

Among women, the rates for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, melanoma, leukemia and cancers of the lung, bladder, and kidney have been rising since at least 1975, while thyroid cancer rates started rising in 1981.

The report focused on cancer among Latinos and Hispanics and found that for 1999 to 2003, Latinos had lower incidence rates than non-Hispanic whites for most cancers.

But Latinos tended to be diagnosed later, after cancers had spread and become less curable.

And the report found that Latino children have higher incidence rates of leukemia, retinoblastoma, osteosarcoma and germ cell tumors than do non-Latino white children.

Many of the cancers that were more common among Hispanics are caused by bacteria or viruses, such as cervical cancer, caused by human papilloma virus, stomach cancer caused by Helicobacter pylori bacteria and hepatitis-caused liver cancer.

Dr. Jane Delgado, President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health said most health experts assume that Latinos have worse health than whites and she was glad to see this was not the case for cancer.

"This report also underscores our greatest concerns," Delgado added in a statement. "We need to do much more to inform Hispanics of their increased risks for stomach, liver, cervical, and myeloma cancers."

But the report did not address why cancer rates might be different among Latinos. Blacks have the highest rate of new cancers. "These disparities are not likely due to genetic differences. Rather, they are more likely due to social, cultural, behavioral, and environmental factors," it reads.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States after heart disease, and will be diagnosed in 1.4 million people this year and kill more than 560,000.

In 2003 the rate of new cases of cancer was 477.2 per 100,000 people per year.