ST. PAUL (AP) - Lung cancer remains the deadliest cancer in Minnesota and a particular threat to women and American Indians, the Minnesota Health Department said in a report released Tuesday.
The rate of lung cancer deaths among Minnesota women has been on the rise since 1988, even though the national rate for women started to level off in the last decade, according to the department's biennial cancer report. That may mean that Minnesota women trail their counterparts when it comes to quitting smoking, the department said in a news release.
Meanwhile, American Indians in Minnesota have the highest rate of lung cancer deaths _ nearly three times higher than the national average and more than twice as high as the rate among white non-Hispanic Minnesotans, the report said.
Lung cancer killed 2,327 Minnesotans in 2002, accounting for about a quarter of the state's cancer deaths. Men's death rates from lung cancer have been falling steadily since 1988, although the cancer still kills more Minnesota men than any other cancer.
The report said 1,261 men and 1,066 women died of lung cancer in the state in 2002. After lung cancer, the most fatal cancers were colorectal, breast and prostate. The overall cancer rate has been climbing since 1995, driven by more prostate cancer in men and lung and breast cancer in women.
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The state's smoking rate hasn't budged over the last decade, the department said.
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On the Net:
Minnesota Health Department: http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/hpcd/cdee/mcss
