Statewide Iowa — (RI) — Cancer deaths and new cancer cases will rise statewide in the year ahead, according to predictions in the “2019 Cancer in Iowa” report being released by the State Health Registry of Iowa.
Mary Charlton, an epidemiology professor at the University of Iowa, says the increases were expected, for the most part, though it was hoped they would have further slowed.
Charlton says it’s encouraging the numbers aren’t increasing dramatically, but it’s also frustrating as the top cancer killers are the easiest to avoid.
It’s known that tobacco use causes the vast majority of lung cancer cases, she says, along with Iowa’s radon prevalence. The most common cancers in Iowa are similar for both sexes, with one difference at the top.
Another rising cancer in Iowa is throat cancer, especially in men. Charlton emphasizes, Iowans have the ability to lower their risk levels by working to prevent two of the worst cancer killers, colorectal and lung.
The State Health Registry of Iowa, based at the University of Iowa College of Public Health, has been gathering cancer incidence and follow-up data for the state since 1973.
