A report published today, in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention which is a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research has stated that southern states are lagging behind in improvements related to colorectal cancer mortality rates while most of the efforts are focused towards the northern part of the United States.

“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 Dr. Ahmedin Jemal, D.V.M., Ph.D., who serves as the vice president for surveillance research at the American Cancer Society.

Although rates of mortality due to colorectal cancer have decreased across the United States over the last few decades, for both men and women equally, colorectal cancer is still the third most common cause of death related to cancer. In this study the temporal trend in age-standardized colorectal cancer death rates for each state from 1990 to 2007 was analyzed by the scientists.

The results of the study revealed that in general, states in the North had fewer deaths related to colorectal cancer compared to the states in the South. The scientists identified a strong link between the rates of screening and the rates of mortality by state. It was found that the higher the rates of screening, the lower are the rates of mortality.

The difference in the rates of screening was attributed by the researchers to the existing economic differences between states. Examples of such differences are the availability of health insurance and the number of people living below the poverty line. Only 5.4 percent of people who live in Massachusetts do not have health insurance, compared with 18.8 percent in Mississippi. Similarly, compared with a national average of 13 percent, more than 20 percent of people living in Mississippi are below the poverty line.

“The report shows a significant change in historical trends,”

stated Dr. Elizabeth Jacobs, Ph.D., an associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Arizona.

“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. “It shows the importance of access to screening.”

Source: Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention

Written by Anne Hudsmith