https://goo.gl/tAoxEu
Rural Americans develop cancer less often than their metropolitan counterparts but are more likely to die of the disease, according to a first-of-its-kind report from the CDC.
From 2006 to 2015, cancer mortality in rural areas decreased by 1% a year as compared with a 1.6% annual decline in urban areas. The percentages translated into cancer-associated death rates of 180 per 100,000 persons in rural areas versus 158 per 100,000 in urban areas.
Rural areas had a lower cancer incidence over the 10-year period that ended in 2013, 442 cases versus 457 cases per 100,000 in urban areas. Overall, cancer incidence decreased about 1% per year in rural and metropolitan areas, as reported in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
"Differences between nonmetropolitan and metropolitan counties in cancer incidence might reflect differences in risk factors such as cigarette smoking, obesity, and physical inactivity, whereas differences in cancer death rates might reflect disparities in access to healthcare and timely diagnosis and treatment," S. Jane Henley, PhD, of the CDC National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, and coauthors concluded.