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Cancer
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Reduce
the overall cancer death rate.
Target:
166.2 deaths per 100,000 population.
Baseline, 1994-1998: 207.8 cancer deaths per 100,000
population (age adjusted to the year 2000 U.S. standard population).
Target Setting Method: 20 percent improvement.
Reduce
the colorectal cancer death rate.
Target:
16.4 deaths per 100,000 population.
Baseline, 1996-1998: 20.5 colorectal deaths per 100,000
population (age adjusted to the year 2000 U.S. standard population).
Target Setting Method: 20 percent improvement.
Increase
the proportion of adults who have ever had a colorectal cancer screening
examination.
Target:
49.8 percent.
Baseline, 1998-1999: 31.5 percent adults age 18 and older
received a sigmoidoscopy or proctoscopy.
Target Setting Method: Better than the best. Represents
58 percent improvement. Reduce the breast cancer death rate.
Reduce
the breast cancer death rate.
Target:
22.6 deaths per 100,000 population.
Baseline, 1996-1998: 28.2 breast cancer deaths per 100,000
population (age adjusted to the year 2000 U.S. standard population).
Target Setting Method: 20 percent improvement.
Increase
the proportion of women age 50 and older who have had a mammogram
in the last 2 years.
Target:
85.2 percent.
Baseline, 1998-1999: 79.6 percent of women aged 50 years
and older received a mammogram within the last 2 years.
Target Setting Method: 7 percent improvement.
Reduce
cervical cancer death rate.
Target:
2.0 deaths per 100,000 population.
Baseline, 1996-1998: 3.4 cervical cancer deaths per 100,000
population (age adjusted to the year 2000 U.S. standard population).
Target Setting Method: Better than the best.
Increase
the proportion of women age 18 and older who have had a Pap test
in the last 3 years.
Target:
94.7 percent.
Baseline, 1998-1999: 89.3 percent women, age 18 and older,
have had a Pap test in the last 3 years.
Target Setting Method: Better than the best.
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Chronic
Disease - Cancer
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Cancer is the out-of-control growth and spread
of abnormal cells. These cells accumulate and form tumors (lumps)
that may compress, invade and destroy normal tissue. It is the second
leading cause of death in North Carolina and the United States. Over
15,000 North Carolinians die from cancer each year, 41 each day. One
in every two men and one in every three women in North Carolina will
be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. The lung, bronchus, prostate,
female breast, colon and rectum were the most common cancer sites
for all racial and ethnic populations. Together these cancers account
for approximately 54 percent of all newly diagnosed cancers in the
United States and 59 percent in North Carolina.
The financial costs of cancer are substantial.
The annual costs for cancer are estimated to be $107 billion nationwide.
In North Carolina in 1990, the annual costs for cancer were estimated
to be $3.2 billion, with $1.11 billion for direct medical costs
(the total of all health expenditures), $330 million for costs of
illness (costs of low productivity due to illness) and $1.76 billion
for costs of death (cost of lost productivity due to death). Treatment
for lung, breast and prostate cancers alone accounts for more than
half of the direct medical costs.
The burden of cancer can be dramatically
reduced if proven advances in prevention, early detection and care
are made available. For example, smoking is associated with 30 percent
of all cancer deaths; mammography is proven to decrease mortality
from breast cancer and there is evidence that early detection of
colorectal cancer can decrease mortality by one-half. However, since
cancer often takes a long time to develop, it can take 30 years
or more for prevention efforts to lower mortality rates. In cases
where effective screening techniques are available that lead to
improved treatment outcomes, efforts to increase screening can result
in more immediate reductions in morality rates.
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Disparities
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In North
Carolina, African American/Blacks are about 35 percent more likely
to die of cancer than are Whites. African American/Black women are
more likely to die of breast and colon cancers than are White women,
even though their incidence rate is lower than that of White women.
They have approximately the same lung cancer mortality rates as White
women. African American/Black males have the highest mortality rates
of colorectal, lung and prostate cancers. The biggest disparity in
lung cancer mortality is between all males and all females. African
American/Black and White male mortality rates are similar. |
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Determinants/Risk
Factors
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Inadequate education and awareness; inadequate
diet; tobacco use; ultraviolet radiation; lack of early detection
and treatment for breast, cervical, colorectal and other cancers;
lack of access to treatment because of disproportionate geographic
distribution of cancer facilities. |
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NC Data
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Chronic
Disease - Cancer
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