Cancer is not just one disease, but many different diseases. There are more than 100 different types of cancer that form in different parts of the body. Cancer is one of the most common chronic diseases and a leading cause of death in United States.
Major risk factors for cancer include:
tobacco use
obesity
physical inactivity
sun exposure.
Genetic factors also seem to play a role in some types of cancer.
Some types of cancer have environmental risk factors such as exposure to ionizing radiation or chemical exposures that have been found to be associated with a higher risk of cancer. The data and information found here is focused on cancers with an observed relationship with the presence of certain environmental pollutants.
Through surveillance and tracking, scientists have observed a relationship between some cancers and certain environmental pollutants. This relationship does not rule out other causes but does suggest that there are factors in the environment that may increase the risk for some cancers.
For example, smoking is a leading cause of lung cancer but radon levels in the home can also increase the risk for lung cancer. The cause of many cancer types is unknown and likely determined by many factors at different points in the lifespan.
Although environmental pollution has been a source of great public concern for decades, more research is needed about environmental exposures at the community level. Evidence is building to support a link between cancer and lower levels of exposures to environmental pollutants.
Cancer surveillance is the most well-established and extensive disease surveillance network in the United States. Centralized cancer registries in the United States conduct population-based surveillance of cancer incidence and mortality.
The incidence of cancer in Iowa residents by year. Incidence is the number of new cases of illness occurring within a specific population over a period of time.
The incidence of some cancers in Iowa residents by age group, race/ethnicity, gender, or region of the state.
If a measure is going up or down over time.
If a segment of a population is at higher risk for cancer or a specific type of cancer.
To inform the public about cancer incidence in Iowa.
For program planning and evaluation by state and local partners.
What causes cancer or what causes specific types of cancer.
Iowa Cancer incidence data is collected by the State Health Registry of Iowa (SHRI)/Iowa Cancer Registry (ICR).
The ICR is a population-based cancer registry that has served the State of Iowa since 1973. The ICR has been a member of the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program since its inception in 1973.
Since 1982 cancer has been a reportable disease in Iowa and the ICR has been delegated the responsibility for collecting data on cancer. In the Iowa Administrative Code (IAC) under Public Health (641), Chapter 1, Reportable Diseases, Poisonings and Conditions, and Quarantine and Isolation covers the reporting of cancer.
As part of the February 2023 update the Cancer Data source was updated to come directly from the State Health Registry of Iowa, Iowa Cancer Registry. The new data source allows data to be published with a shorter delay from the prior National SEER Data source. Due to this change, the measures published for 2000-2016 may be slightly different than previously available.
The Iowa Public Health Tracking portal displays cancer data from the year 2000 through the most recent year of data available.
There is usually a three or four-year lag period before cancer incidence data are available on the Iowa Public Health Tracking portal.
Cancer patient data are collected from hospitals, pathology laboratories, cancer treatment centers, dermatology clinics and Iowa death certificates. The ICR also collects data from targeted physicians who send their pathology specimens to out-of-state laboratories. Data are collected by 20 field representatives who are responsible for case finding in their assigned coverage areas.
Counts and rates are calculated based upon residential address at time of diagnosis. No information is available on prior residences.
Geocoding accuracy, level of geocoding, and geocoding completeness may vary by time and space. This could potentially create geographically non-random errors in calculated rates of cancer.
No personal exposure information will be available, including smoking history, diet, lifestyle, or history of cancer.
No information will be available on the latency of cancer cases.
Rates based on 10 or fewer cases of cancer are unstable (i.e. unstable rate or UR) and caution should be exercised in interpreting these rates.
Counts presented here are number of cancers, not number of people with cancer. A person can contribute more than one case of cancer for the purposes of these data.
