• In California, Lake County has 89% more cancer deaths Mono County per capita;
• For lung cancer mortality in California, Lake County has 167% more deaths than San Benito County per capita;
• In the United States, Kentucky has 55% more cancer deaths than Utah per capita;
• For colorectal cancer in the United States, the District of Columbia has 77% more deaths than Utah per capita;
• For breast cancer in the United States, Alaska has 44% more deaths than Hawaii per capita.
The NCI 1of 27 Institutes and Centers that comprise the U.S. National Institutes of Health, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NCI’s responsibilities include conducting and fostering cancer research; reviewing and approving grant-in-aid applications to support promising research projects on the causes, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cancer; collecting, analyzing, and disseminating the results of cancer research conducted in the United States and in other countries; and providing training and instruction in cancer diagnosis and treatment. In fulfilling its responsibilities, NCI has built a national network that includes regional and community cancer centers, physicians who are cancer specialists, cooperative groups of clinical researchers, and volunteer and community outreach groups (1).
Analysis of the data provided by the NCI shows the extreme variance of cancer mortality rates between sates and even between counties within the same sate (4). For instance in California, the lowest all-cancer death rate is observed in Mono County (Chart 1) and this rate is almost two times lower that the one observed in Lake County (Chart 2) (the highest all-cancer death rate in California).
*Numbers indicate annual number of deaths per 100,000 in the population.
*Numbers indicate annual number of deaths per 100,000 in the population.
Analysis of a relative contribution of different cancer types to the overall cancer-related deaths shows that lung cancer-related death primarily contributed to the observed differences. San Benito County (the lowest rate) has the lung/bronchus cancer rate that is almost 2.7 lower than the one observed in Lake County (Charts 3 and 4).
*Numbers indicate annual number of deaths per 100,000 in the population.
*Numbers indicate annual number of deaths per 100,000 in the population.
Other types of cancer also contributed to the extreme difference in cancer-related death rates in California but to the lesser extent. The lowest rate of deaths due to breast cancer in women has approximately 1.4 times difference with the highest rate (Calaveras County 19.6/100,000; and Lassen County 27.3/100,000). The lowest rate of death due to the prostate cancer has 1.9 times difference with the highest rate (Tuolumne County 18.1/100,000; and Sutter County 34.7/100,000).
Using extensive data collected and presented by NCI, we identified 10 states with the lowest and 10 states with the highest cancer mortality rates (Charts 5 and 6). Further analysis showed that lung cancer along with the prostate cancer appeared to be the major contributors to the extreme variance in cancer-related death. The lowest rate of deaths due to lung cancer has approximately 3.2 times difference with the highest rate (Utah 23.4/100,000; and Kentucky 74.8/100,000). The lowest rate of deaths due to prostate cancer has approximately 3.0 times difference with the highest rate (Hawaii 13.4/100,000; and District of Columbia 40.8/100,000).
*Numbers indicate annual number of deaths per 100,000 in the population.
Other types of cancer contributed to the lesser extent to the difference in cancer-related death rates. The lowest rate of death due to the colorectal cancer has 1.7 times difference with the highest rate (Utah 12.6/100,000; and District of Columbia 22.4/100,000). The lowest rate of deaths due to breast cancer in women has approximately 1.4 times difference with the highest rate (Hawaii 18.9/100,000; and Alaska 27.4/100,000).
Although the determinants of many geographic patterns remain to be elucidated, it is obvious that variations in cigarette smoking greatly influence the patterns of lung and certain other tobacco-related cancers. The report found that states with high rates of smoking also have high rates of tobacco-related cancers and overall cancer-related deaths. Comparing the state smoking rates (% of adults who smoke): Utah 9.3%; California 14%; Hawaii 15.4%; and West Virginia 26.5%; Kentucky 25.2%; Mississippi 22.7% (7), and the Charts 5 and 6 it becomes clear that states with the lowest smoking rates have the lowest cancer-related death rates and visa versa.
Obesity, physical inactivity, and poor nutrition are major risk factors for cancer, second only to tobacco use (8). Approximately one-third of the more than 500,000 cancer deaths in the US this year can be attributed to poor diet and physical inactivity, while another third is caused by use of tobacco products.
Early detection of cancer through screening has been shown to reduce mortality from cancers of the colon and rectum, breast, and uterine cervix (8). Screening refers to testing in individuals who are asymptomatic for a particular disease (i.e., they have no symptoms that may indicate the presence of disease). In addition to detecting cancer early, screening for colorectal or cervical cancers can identify and result in the removal of precancerous abnormalities, preventing cancer altogether.
This article is brought to you by GenWay Biotech Inc. GenWay offers a cancer assessment aimed to detect 20 different types of cancer in the early stages under the brand name You Test You™, www.youtestyou.com.
References:
1. National Cancer Institute.
2. The National Vital Statistics System.
3. The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program of the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
4. National Cancer Institute: State Cancer Profiles (http://statecancerprofiles.cancer.gov).
5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Cancer prevention and Control – Geographic Variations.
6. National Cancer Institute: Cancer Mortality Maps and Graphs.
7. Kaiser State Health Facts: 50 States Comparison (http://statehealthfacts.org).
8. American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2009. Atlanta: American Cancer Society, 2009.
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