Cancer
The number of Virginians who die from cancer has decreased in recent years, but it is still higher than the national average. Virginia hopes to reduce that number still more by targeting behavioral risk factors.
Why is This Important?
Over one million people are diagnosed with cancer each year in the United States. Approximately one out of every two American men and one out of every three American women will have some type of cancer at some point during their lifetimes. While the overall cancer death rate has been steadily declining, cancer remains the second leading cause of death.
For men and women combined, the most commonly diagnosed form of cancer in Virginia is lung and bronchus cancer, followed by colon and rectum cancer. The most common form of cancer for women is breast cancer. For men, prostate cancer is the most common cancer.
How is Virginia Doing?
According to the Centers for Disease Control, Virginia ranks 30th among the states for its age-adjusted annual cancer death rate. In 2007, Virginia's rate was 182.8 deaths per 100,000 people, while the national rate was 178.1. The 2007 cancer death rates per 100,000 people in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Maryland were 200.1, 189.3, and 180.7, respectively. Utah had the lowest rate in the nation at 127.9 deaths per 100,000 people.
Data collected by Virginia’s Department of Health reveals that cancer rates continue to fall across most of the state. The Northern region again had the lowest age-adjusted cancer mortality rate at 144.0 per 100,000 in 2010; the Southwest region had the highest rate at 192.2 per 100,000 people.
What Influences the Cancer Rate?
Environmental carcinogens, tobacco, diet and obesity, sedentary lifestyle, occupational factors, family history, environmental pollution, ultraviolet radiation, and socioeconomic status have all been linked to cancer. Recently, viruses and other biologic agents, as well as alcohol consumption (particularly when interacting with tobacco), have also been linked to cancer.
What is the State's Role?
According to a Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention report, there are at least five behavioral risk factors for cancer that the state can help influence: tobacco use, physical inactivity, obesity, diet, and alcohol use. To reduce these risks, the state can engage in educational programs; implement structural interventions, such as regulations to reduce the use of tobacco; and facilitate local activities to promote a healthier environment and lifestyle.
State rankings are ordered so that #1 is understood to be the best.
Data and Definitions
Regional Data:
- Cancer deaths by age group provided by the Virginia Department of Health.
- Population data provided by the Bridged-Race Census population, prepared by NCHS: www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/bridged_race.htm.
- Regional age-adjusted
rates computed
by the Weldon
Cooper Center
for Public
Service (updated
annually in
October)
State Data:
Division
of Cancer
Prevention
and Control,
National
Center
for Chronic
Disease
Prevention
and Health
Promotion,
CDC.
State-level data is
age-adjusted to
the 2000 U.S. population.
(updated annually in February)
Harvard Reports on Cancer Prevention
American Cancer Society
www.cancer.org
Ries, L.A.G., M.P. Eisner, C.L. Kosary, et al. (eds). SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1973-1998. Bethesda, MD: National Cancer Institute, 2001.
See the Data Sources and Updates Calendar for a detailed list of the data resources used for indicator measures on Virginia Performs.
