Declining lung cancer death rates lag for women in 2 US hot spots.

Abstract

CancerVolume 124, Issue 17 p. 3467-3467 CancerScopeFree Access Declining lung cancer death rates lag for women in 2 US hot spots First published: 16 October 2018 https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.31716AboutSectionsPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Lung cancer death rates have been declining substantially among women in most of the United States; however, progress lags in regions of central Appalachia as well as southern and northern parts of the Midwest according to a recent study. 1 The study found the following: Between the period of 1990 to 1999 and the period of 2006 to 2015, lung cancer death rates among women rose 13% in a hot spot encompassing 669 counties in 21 states in central Appalachia and southern parts of the Midwest. During the same timeframe, in a second hot spot that includes 81 counties in 4 states in the northern Midwest, lung cancer death rates rose 7% among women. In the remainder of the contiguous United States, lung cancer deaths among women fell by 6%. Researchers also compared lung cancer death rates among women in each hot spot with those among women in the remainder of the United States and found the following: In 1990, the death rate for the largest hot spot was 4% lower than the death rate for non–hot spot regions, but in 2015, it was 28% higher. For the second hot spot, the death rate was 18% lower than the non–hot spot death rate in 1990 but was equivalent to the non–hot spot death rate in 2015. The study was led by Katherine Ross, MPH, a graduate student in the department of epidemiology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. She and her colleagues wanted to determine whether women in specific areas of the country might benefit from targeted tobacco control and smoking cessation programs. They used data from the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database to calculate age-standardized lung cancer death rates. Knowing that Midwestern and Appalachian states have the highest prevalence of smoking among women and the lowest percent declines in smoking in recent years, the authors were not surprised by the results, Ross said. She adds that geographic disparity may widen unless specific measures are undertaken to reduce tobacco use among women in these hot spots. However, many states in the identified hot spots either do not have tobacco control policies in place or have policies that are weak in comparison with those of other states, Ross notes. References 1Ross K, Kramer M, Jemal A. Geographic inequalities in progress against lung cancer among women in the United States, 1990–2015 [published online ahead of print March 30, 2018]. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. doi: https://doi.org/10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-17-0934. Volume124, Issue17September 1, 2018Pages 3467-3467 This article also appears in:CancerScope Archive 2014-2019 ReferencesRelatedInformation