Southern U.S. States lag in reducing Death
Rates from Colorectal Cancer
Newswise, July 13, 2011--Improvements in
colorectal cancer mortality rates are
concentrated in the northern part of the
United States, while southern states
continue to fall behind, according to a
report in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers
& Prevention, a journal of the American
Association for Cancer Research.
Ahmedin Jemal, D.V.M., Ph.D., vice president
for surveillance research at the American
Cancer Society, said the decrease in death
rates ranged from about 37 percent in
Massachusetts to no reduction in
Mississippi.
“This was very surprising, because when you
look at the differences in reductions by
state they are huge,” said Jemal.
Although colorectal cancer remains the third
leading cause of cancer mortality for men
and women, rates have been declining
nationwide for several decades. The
researchers analyzed the temporal trend in
age-standardized colorectal cancer death
rates for each state from 1990 to 2007.
Overall, states in the South had a lower
reduction in mortality than states in the
North. The researchers found a strong
correlation between higher rates of
screening and higher reductions in rates of
mortality by state.
They speculate that economic disparities may
be playing a role in rates of screening. In
Mississippi, 18.8 percent of people do not
have health insurance, compared with 5.4
percent in Massachusetts. More than 20
percent of the population of Mississippi
lives below the poverty line, compared with
a national average of 13 percent.
Elizabeth Jacobs, Ph.D., an associate
professor of epidemiology and biostatistics
at the University of Arizona, said the
report shows a significant change in
historical trends.
“It used to be that the highest rates of
colorectal cancer mortality were in the
northeastern part of the United States, but
now we’ve really seen a switch,” said
Jacobs, an editorial board member of Cancer
Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. “It
shows the importance of access to
screening.”
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