New study reveals risk of several cancers is higher in urban areas

A new paper reports that the risk of several cancers is higher in people who live in urban, compared to rural, areas.

A new paper published in the Journal of Urban Health, by researchers at the National Cancer Registry and Northern Ireland Cancer Registry, reports that the risk of several cancers is higher in people who live in urban, compared to rural, areas. 

The research team (including Prof Linda Sharp, Dr Sandra Deady, Mr Neil McCluskey and Dr Harry Comber at the National Cancer Registry) used data from the two registries to investigate urban-rural variations in the incidence of 18 common cancers during 1994-2007. 

After adjusting for age, jurisdiction, and several markers of socio-economic status, the team found that risk of 12 cancers varied significantly between urban and rural areas. For 11 of these cancers, risk was significantly higher in urban areas. The exception was prostate cancer: for this cancer, risk was significantly lower in men resident in urban, than rural, areas.  

The cancers where the risk was higher in urban residents included head & neck, oesophageal, stomach, colorectal, lung, bladder and non-melanoma skin cancer.  Risks of breast, cervical, kidney and brain cancer were also significantly higher in females in urban areas.

The authors suggest that, for some cancers, the raised risks are likely to be explained by urban-rural variations in healthcare utilization (e.g. prostate specific antigen testing) and/or known risk factors (e.g. smoking, infection with human papillomavirus). For others, there are no obvious explanations and, in the interests of greater equity, further investigation is warranted. 

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