Incidence of Lung and Bronchus Cancer by County, New Mexico, 2017-2021
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Why Is This Important?
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among both men and women. Most lung cancers are diagnosed at a late stage, when the prognosis is poor. Each year, lung cancer accounts for over 12% of all new cancer cases and approximately 21% of all cancer deaths in the U.S. This equates to over 236,000 cases and 130,180 deaths. The five-year survival rate is 23%. Unlike other common types of cancer, there is no effective screening program for lung cancer, and symptoms often do not appear until the disease is very advanced. This makes treatment more difficult and survival less likely compared to other cancers. However, because most lung cancers are related to cigarette smoking, most cases can be avoided. Other risk factors include asbestos exposure and radon.
Definition
Lung cancer incidence refers to the number of persons newly diagnosed with lung cancer during a specified time period, such as a single year or a five-year time interval. Measures include 1) age-adjusted lung cancer incidence rate (adjusted by the direct method to the 2000 US standard population) and 2) age-adjusted incidence rates by race/ethnicity. All rates are expressed per 100,000 persons.
Data Notes
- Rates have been age-adjusted using the direct method and the 2000 U.S. standard population.
- Rates have been age-adjusted using the direct method and the 2000 U.S. standard population.
Data Sources
- New Mexico Population Estimates: University of New Mexico, Geospatial and Population Studies (GPS) Program.
(http://gps.unm.edu/) - New Mexico Tumor Registry
(https://nmtrweb.unm.edu/)
How the Measure is Calculated
Numerator:
The number of lung cancers newly diagnosed in New Mexico residents during a specified time period. The data are based on the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program incidence site recode: 22030. http://seer.cancer.gov/siterecode/Denominator:
The estimated resident population of New Mexico during a specified time period.
Data Issues
New Mexico Population Estimates
All population estimates apply to July 1 of the selected year. These estimates are considered the most accurate estimates for the state of New Mexico and should match those found on the University of New Mexico Geospatial and Population Studies website. Estimates include decimal fractions. Census tract population estimates were summed to produce County and Small Area population estimates. Population estimate totals may vary due to rounding. Population estimates for previous years are occasionally revised as new information becomes available. When publishing trend data, always be sure that your rates for earlier years match current rates on NM-IBIS that have been calculated with the most up-to-date population estimates.
New Mexico Tumor Registry
In agreement with the New Mexico Tumor Registry, to ensure confidentiality the count of cancer cases is suppressed for any given county if the count is between one and four and the population is less than 1,000. NOTE: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted health services, leading to delays and reductions in cancer screening, diagnosis, and reporting to some central cancer registries. This may have contributed to an observed decline in 2020 incidence for most cancer sites.