UNITED-STATES CANCER DEATH RATES - A SIMPLE ADJUSTMENT FOR URBANIZATION

A statistical study of death rates due to various forms of cancer in the United States begins with an adjustment of the rates in terms of a measure of urbanization. The rates used in this study were collected and age-adjusted by the National Cancer Institute (NCI); they cover the years 1950-1969. Only the rates for trachea, bronchus and lung combined are analyzed here. The county rates are analyzed separately for each of five disk-shaped regions of the country, selected to cover most areas with relatively high rates. A measure of urbanization based on the size of the largest place in the county is defined and then used to stratify the counties in each disk. Considering first only Poisson variation, Poisson intervals for the stratum rates in each disk are derived and compared across regions. The analysis, largely exploratory in nature, is a first step. When continued, it should provide insights about geographic gradations that might later prove to be related to environmental influences. This study treats only the rates from cancer of the trachea, bronchus and lung, for white males in selected parts of the country, but it is clear that the methodology may be applied to other sites, populations, or areas.