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Iowa cancer report's 76% figure comes from only 5 cancer types
The Des Moines Register • • health
Key Points:
- Iowa officials released the first phase of a $1 million cancer study showing that behavioral and demographic factors explain 76% of excess cases in five cancer types, but only about 35% when all cancers are considered.
- The study focused on prostate, breast, lung, melanoma, and colorectal cancers, explaining 697 of 921 excess cases, with lung cancer risk fully accounted for by factors like smoking and radon exposure.
- Environmental exposures such as pesticides and nitrate-contaminated water were not included in the first phase, despite being linked to certain cancers like prostate cancer in prior research.
- Nearly half of Iowa’s expected 21,700 new cancer diagnoses this year come from cancers outside the five studied, including high national rates of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, leukemia, and uterine cancer.
- Researchers plan to examine environmental factors in Phase 2, which may take up to a year, while state officials emphasize the need for actionable answers to Iowa's rising cancer rates.
