ASPO Abstracts
Cancer Mortality in Rural America: 1999-2016
Category: Cancer Health Disparities
Conference Year: 2019
Abstract Body:
Purpose: Our primary aim was to understand the scope of cancer mortality in urban and rural areas of the U.S over the past 18 years.Methods: We analyzed mortality associated with some of the most common cancer types in the U.S.–breast, cervical, lung, prostate, and colon–over an eighteen-year period from 1999-2016 and explored the roles played by rurality and region. We utilized data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Results: We have available for reporting and discussion a total of 10 tables and figures showing rural v. urban differences in age-adjusted cancer mortality by region and across Census regions of the U.S. While lung cancer, prostate cancer, and colon cancer rates are higher in rural areas than urban areas, the reverse is true in breast cancer and cervical cancer. Census region also comes into play in the discussion of cancer mortality and rurality. For most of the cancers studied here, rates are highest in the South and lowest in the West–with the highest rates typically seen in the rural South. Higher cancer mortality rates in the South and in rural America comport well with existing research on cancer across the United States. Even when cancer mortality is better in rural areas than urban areas, in the case of breast cancer, this study shows that rates are higher in the rural noncore South than rural noncore areas in any other region. Prostate cancer however is a notable exception. Prostate cancer mortality is higher in the rural West than anywhere else in the country, the only time the West holds that distinction here. Conclusions: This research highlights that even as cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, geographic factors play a critical role in the distribution of cancer mortality across the United States. For some common cancers — lung, prostate, and colon in particular–rural areas have been struck particularly hard, with higher mortality rates in rural areas. For other common cancers–particularly those impacting women (breast and cervical cancers)–rural areas appear to be performing better.
Keywords: Cancer MortalityRural DisparitiesGeographic Differences