Arizona ranks among states with lowest cancer rates nationwide
Oct 16, 2017, 4:35 AM | Updated: 11:27 am
(Flickr photo)
PHOENIX — Arizona was ranked among the states with the lowest cancer rates in the country, according to a recent analysis from 24/7 Wall St.
The state is 48th in the nation in the website’s analysis of states with the highest cancer rates. According to the website, Arizona has an average of 379.8 cancer diagnoses per every 100,000 people.
Arizona also ranked the 6th-lowest state in the nation for cancer deaths with an average of 142.5 per every 100,000 people.
The state came in as the 7th-lowest state in the nation for lung cancer deaths, at an average of 47.1 people per every 100,000. However, Arizona ranked 7th-highest in the nation for adults who currently smoke, at 14 percent.
Arizona is the 9th-lowest state in the nation for breast cancer diagnoses, with an average of 115 per every 100,000 people.
The only states that ranked better than Arizona on the list were Nevada and New Mexico. The states with the five-highest cancer rates in the country were Kentucky, Delaware, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and New York.
According to the article’s author, there is no “clear pattern” between a state’s income level and its cancer diagnosis rates.
“For example, Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico — three states with relatively low cancer incidence rates — are also some of the nation’s poorest states.
“Meanwhile, relatively high income states like Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey report among the top 10 cancer incidence rates,” said Thomas Frohlich.
The analysis was conducted using the age-adjusted cancer incidence rate from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, according to Frohlich.