Xiao Cheng Wu, MD. MPH, Associate Professor and Assistant Director of the Louisiana Tumor Registry at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Public Health, co-authored the Annual Report to the Nation on the Status on Cancer, 1975-2005, Featuring Trends in Lung Cancer, Tobacco Use, and Tobacco Control. The paper reports, for the first time, declines in both cancer incidence and death rates, as well as wide variations in lung cancer trends from state to state. It will be published by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute in the December 2, 2008 issue, available online on November 25, 2008.
Data were drawn from a number of sources including National Cancer Institute designated Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) cancer registries, one of which is the Louisiana Tumor Registry at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Public Health.
The report, which is a collaboration of the American Cancer Society, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, reports that both incidence and death rates from all cancers combined are decreasing significantly in men and women overall and in most racial and ethnic populations. These decreases are largely driven by declines in the three most common cancers in men (lung, colorectum, and prostate) and in two of the three leading cancers in women (breast and colorectum), combined with a leveling off of lung cancer death rates in women. Although the national trend in female lung cancer death rates has stabilized since 2003, there is prominent state and regional variation. Lung cancer incidence and/or death rates among women increased in 18 states, 16 of them in the South or Midwest. California was the only state with decreasing lung cancer incidence and death rates in women."Lung cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer and leading cause of cancer death in Louisiana," notes Dr. Wu. "Although lung cancer incidence and death rates are declining among Louisiana men, they still rank the fourth and fifth, respectively, in the nation. Among Louisiana women, lung cancer incidence and death rates continue to increase. Cigarette smoking is the major cause of lung cancer in the United States. To reduce risk of lung cancer, we have to reduce cigarette smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke."
Among the findings:
The researchers conclude that while the decrease in overall cancer incidence and death rates is encouraging, the large state and regional differences in lung cancer trends among women underscore the need to maintain and strengthen many state tobacco control programs.
To view the full report, go to: http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org .
For a Q&A on this Report, go to http://cancer.gov/newscenter/pressreleases/ReportNation2008QandA .
For Spanish translations of this press release and Q&A, go to http://cancer.gov/espanol/noticias/ReportNation2008SpanishRelease .
LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans educates the majority of Louisiana's health care professionals. The state's academic health leader, LSUHSC comprises a School of Medicine, the state's only School of Dentistry, Louisiana's only public School of Public Health, Schools of Allied Health Professions and Graduate Studies, as well as the only School of Nursing in Louisiana within an academic health center. LSUHSC faculty take care of patients in public and private hospitals and clinics throughout Louisiana. In the vanguard of biosciences research in a number of areas worldwide, LSUHSC faculty have made lifesaving discoveries and continue to work to prevent, treat, or cure disease. LSUHSC outreach programs span the state.
JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute