Bay Area cancer incidence report released

By Ashley Wright

April 25, 2008

A recently released report on Bay Area cancer statistics found that black men continue to have the highest overall rates of cancer, with Asian/Pacific Islander women continuing to experience the lowest overall rates, according to the Northern California Cancer Center.

The center’s 2008 Cancer Incidence and Mortality in the Greater Bay Area Report offers cancer statistics for Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, San Benito, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties.

This year’s figures are based on reports of cancer in the Bay Area up to 2005, said Tina Clarke, associate director of surveillance research for the center. Cancer data takes years to sort through, she said, so a gap of about two years is expected.

The report found that incidents of new cancers in the Bay Area declined 16 percent for men and 10 percent for women during the period between 1988 and 2005, according to the Cancer Center. Cancer mortality rates also declined, dropping 27 percent for men and 21 percent for women during the same period.

The center found that liver cancer rates stayed highest amongst Asian and Pacific Islanders compared to other groups, and that liver cancer rates are higher in San Francisco than in other Bay Area counties.

Black men and women had the highest incidents of lung cancer in 2005, while breast cancer was more commonly reported amongst white women than other racial and ethnic groups in the Bay Area in 2005, the center reported.

The report also found that lung cancer was the most common cause of cancer-related death in men and women of most of the racial and ethnic groups surveyed, according to the center. However, prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women are more commonly diagnosed, Clarke said.

The Northern California Cancer Center receives funding from state and federal agencies to conduct surveillance, Clarke said. The center, which works with health centers to help residents understand how cancer affects their communities, also runs additional cancer studies, according to Clarke.

Additional information regarding the report is available online at www.nccc.org/annual_cancer_report and statewide cancer rates can be found at http://www.cancer-rates.info/ca/.

FCJ Editor

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