Cancer Surveillance Series: Changing Geographic Patterns of Lung Cancer Mortality in the United States, 1950 Through 1994

BACKGROUND: Geographic surveys revealing variations in lung cancer mortality rates across the United States have prompted epidemiologic studies in high-risk communities. We have updated these maps to track the changing patterns and to provide further clues to the determinants of lung cancer. METHODS: Age-adjusted race- and sex-specific lung cancer mortality rates from 1950 through 1994 were calculated for nine Census Divisions and 508 State Economic Areas of the United States. RESULTS: Pronounced geographic variation in lung cancer rates was evident, with the patterns changing substantially over time. Among white males in the 1950s and 1960s, high rates were observed in urban areas of the northeast and north central states and in areas along the southeast and Gulf coasts. By the 1970s, the northern excess began to fade, with high rates starting to cover wider areas of the south. By the 1980s to the mid-1990s, clustering of elevated rates was prominent across the southeast and south central areas, with relatively low rates throughout much of the northeast. Among white females, little geographic variation was evident in the 1950s, but thereafter relatively high rates began to appear in clusters along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. For both sexes, consistently low rates were seen in the mountain and the plains states. Rates among blacks were consistently elevated in northern areas and low across the south. CONCLUSIONS: The changing mortality patterns for lung cancer generally coincide with regional trends in cigarette smoking, indicating that public health measures aimed at smoking prevention and cessation should have a dramatic effect in reducing lung cancer rates.