Utah will have the lowest cancer mortality rate in the United States in 2015, according to a report from the American Cancer Society.
While 11 states are predicted to have fewer cancer-related deaths in 2015 than 2014, the mortality rate will be lowest in Utah, with just 99 deaths per 100,000 people. Alaska and Colorado will have the next lowest mortality rates at 141 and 142 per 100,000 people, respectively. West Virginia is estimated to have the highest cancer mortality rate at 255 per 100,000 people, followed by Kentucky and Arkansas at 231 and 228, respectively. The national cancer mortality rate will be 185 per 100,000.
There will be about 1.66 million new cases of cancer in 2015 and about 590,000 deaths. Female breast cancer will probably be the most common with 231,000 new cases, but with an estimated 221,000 new cases each, lung/bronchus and prostate cancer also will rank high. Lung and bronchus cancer will be the most common cause of death, with 158,000 deaths predicted in 2015, more than a quarter of overall cancer deaths, according to the ACS.
Socioeconomic status makes a big difference in both cancer incidence and mortality. Cancer can stem from a higher likelihood to engage in risky behavior such as smoking, an unhealthy diet, or a sedentary lifestyle. Demographics matter more than ethnicity for cancer mortality, as “cancer mortality rates among both black and non-Hispanic white men with 12 or fewer years of education are almost 3 times higher than those of college graduates for all cancers combined and 4-5 times higher for lung cancer,” the ACS said.
Estimated data were based on 1995-2011 cancer incidence rates collected by the National Center for Health Statistics and the ACS.
