Study: Iowa cancer rates diverged from other states in 2013
Iowa, along with Utah and West Virginia, is one of three states in the U.S. with a rising rate of new cancer diagnoses. To better understand what may be contributing to this, researchers at the American Cancer Society compared cancer diagnosis and mortality rates between Iowa and its seven surrounding states from 2001 to 2022. While Iowa’s cancer diagnosis rates were similar to other states before 2013, new diagnoses increased 0.6% annually in males from 2013 to 2022 and in females from 2005 to 2022. Other states’ cancer rates were stable during these periods. By 2022, new Iowa cancer diagnoses were 11% higher in men and 6% higher in women compared to the surrounding states. Risk factors explain 76% of Iowa’s excess cancer rates The same cancers driving Iowa’s elevated rate of new diagnoses mostly overlap with cancers driving the differences between Iowa and seven surrounding states — Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas and Wisconsin. Prostate cancer accounted for 43.5% of the difference in diagnosis rates between men in Iowa and other states from 2013 to 2022. Breast and lung cancers were responsible for 57.8% of the difference for women. During the 2013-2022 period, cancer mortality rates in
