Report offers insight into cancer prevalence

Details of cancer burden statistics will prove invaluable in public health efforts toward prevention and early detection.

By Stephanie Stapleton, AMNews staff. Dec. 23/30, 2002. Additional information

Washington -- A new collection of cancer incidence data promises to provide key information about specific cancer rates across state and geographic locations and among black and white adults. Ultimately, it could make a long-term difference in cancer prevention and treatment.

"U.S. Cancer Statistics: 1999 Incidence" is heralded as the most comprehensive federal data available to date on state-specific cancer incidence rates.

"With this new data, we can better identify, understand and address differences in cancer rates across the country," said Dept. of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson. "The state and regional data will prove invaluable to public health officials as they plan and evaluate cancer control programs and conduct research."

In the past, national estimates of the cancer burden have been based on data reports covering about 14% of Americans, explained Hannah Weir, PhD, an author of the report and a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention epidemiologist in the division of cancer prevention and control. These data represent about 78% of the U.S. population -- a huge difference, she added.

Among the report's findings: Prostate cancer is the leading cancer in men, regardless of race, followed by lung cancer and colon or rectal cancer. However, prostate cancer rates are 1.5 times higher in black men than in white men.

For both black and white women, breast cancer is the leading cancer. Its incidence is followed by lung and colon cancer in white women and colon and lung cancer in black women. But, overall, breast cancer rates are about 20% higher in white women than in black women.

Prostate cancer is the leading cancer in men, breast cancer leads for women.

Other statistics also vary along racial lines. Melanomas of the skin are among the top 15 cancers for white men and women, but not among the African-American community, which in turn sees a far higher incidence of multiple myeloma.

These statistics are just a sample of what is contained in the report, which was compiled by the CDC and the National Cancer Institute in collaboration with the North American Assn. of Central Cancer Registries. It is based on state-specific and regional data for cancer cases diagnosed in 1999, the most recent year for which data are available. It does not include information about cancer deaths.

The cancer case information was compiled from cancer registries that met criteria and standards of accuracy, completeness and timeliness. The data gathered by these population-based central cancer registries are critical for directing effective cancer prevention and control programs and other interventions.

For instance, locational differences in specific cancer burden rates and risk behaviors can be identified, explained Dr. Weir. In Kentucky, for example, which has very high rates of lung cancer incidence, there is also a high prevalence of adult smoking.

The data may also help focus efforts to reduce environmental risks, such as occupational exposures to known carcinogens, that can be identified as factors in cancer incidence. Finally, the statistics could also help public health experts focus screening and early detection efforts in specific geographic areas that show high rates for specific cancers, she said.

Overall, the report reflects the experience of 37 states, six metropolitan areas and the District of Columbia. Additionally, the report includes cancer incidence data only for blacks and whites because data collection procedures for identifying specific racial and ethnic populations vary widely from registry to registry. Future reports will include additional racial and ethnic populations.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Weblink

CDC report, "U.S. Cancer Statistics: 1999 Incidence" (http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/npcr/uscs/)

NAACCR, the North American Assn. of Central Cancer Registries (http://www.naaccr.org/)

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