Linn County cancer rates reflect high statewide trends

CEDAR RAPIDS — As Iowa continues to grapple with its designation as having the second-highest and fastest growing rate of new cancers, representatives from the Iowa Cancer Registry at the University of Iowa are visiting each county in the state in an attempt to educate and offer resources on a local level.

Mary Charlton, UI professor of epidemiology and director of the Iowa Cancer Registry, and Sarah Nash, an assistant professor of epidemiology at UI and the registry’s director of research, analytics, and dissemination, were in Linn County Thursday to present data about cancer rates in the county and share what residents can do to prevent cancer on an individual level, as well as what the state can do as a whole to combat rising cancer rates.

“We are not behaving like a state that has the second-highest cancer incidence rate, and the only state with a continually rising rate,” Charlton said. “We are not doing the things as a state that we ought to be doing if we want to change that.”

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With about 1,391 new cancers diagnosed each year, Linn County has the 38th highest rate of new cancers among Iowa’s 99 counties, and the eighth highest rate among the 21 metro counties in the state.

Linn is one of 56 counties in Iowa with rates that exceed the national average by a statistically significant amount, although none of Iowa’s counties are significantly below the national average, according to information shared Thursday.

There are about 414 cancer-related deaths in Linn County each year — or about 143.5 per 100,00 people — which is about the same as the national average for cancer-related deaths.

“People have, generally, pretty good access to health care providers here in Iowa, so I think that we’re finding the cancers at an earlier stage, which is why … we have an average mortality rate but this really high incidence rate,” Charlton said.

“Some people will say, then what’s the problem? If we’re getting more cancers early then that’s good, why isn’t this good news?” Charlton said. “The problem is … it’s not good. It’s not good even if it’s early stage. You spend the rest of your life worrying that that cancer might come back.”

In Linn County, female breast cancer is the most common new cancer diagnosis, with 204 new cases per year, followed closely by prostate cancer, with 201 new cases per year.

Lung cancer causes the most deaths among Linn County residents each year, at 104, but only has 174 new cases diagnosed each year. Breast cancer causes 24 Linn County deaths per year, and prostate cancer causes 20.

During the presentation, Nash and Charlton outlined the ways that individuals can reduce their risk of the most common types of cancers. Those include avoiding smoking and drinking, participating in physical activity, protecting yourself from the sun, eating a healthy diet, and getting all recommended cancer screenings.

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At a community level, cancer rates can be reduced by providing education about UV-safety and the link between tobacco and alcohol and cancer.

Charlton and Nash also outlined several Linn County-specific resources, like private well testing services offered by the county, and radon testing kits that are available for purchase from Linn County Public Health, as well as organizations like Care For Yourself and Iowa Get Screened that work to help pay for cancer screenings for individuals.

Those who attended the presentation asked various questions about how the Iowa Cancer Registry collects data and what is being done on a state level to combat concerns about agricultural practices contributing to cancer rates in the state.

Charlton said although the registry doesn’t conduct specific research about agricultural practices, she knows there are groups working on that research and acknowledged that it is an important part of the conversation.

But Charlton also emphasized that there are other factors that already have been proven to contribute to cancer rates that Iowa is not doing a good job of addressing, like tobacco use and tanning beds.

“There’s no political will to raise the tobacco tax. There’s no political will to stop our minors from cooking themselves in tanning beds,” Charlton said. “We’re one of the only states that don’t have any restrictions on minors in tanning beds. We really don’t have anything.”

A bill that would have prohibited minors from using tanning beds failed to advance past the Iowa Legislature’s second funnel deadline this year. House File 524 passed the house, 83-13, but stalled in the Senate.

“We’re not doing lots of things across the board, so it’s not just restricted to agriculture, but that is a huge concern, because it’s what makes Iowa unique. I think that’s why a lot of people are rightly concerned about those types of exposures.”

Charlton said she wants people to walk away from these county presentations with the knowledge that although there still are a lot of unknowns about cancer in Iowa, there are things that can be done to help, including working on prevention measures locally and advocating for more widespread measures to be implemented at the state level.

“We need people in each county to be doing the things that mean the most in their county, the things that people are the most passionate about, the risk factors they’re most concerned about,” Charlton said. “We really want to focus that on the local level, where there are a lot more options for things that can be done.”

Comments: (319) 398-8328; emily.andersen@thegazette.com