Cancer cases and deaths in Maine have decreased over the past two decades, but they still remain higher than the U.S. average and cancer remains the leading cause of death in the state.
According to the latest cancer snapshot from the state Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Maine’s incidence is 449 per 100,000 people, compared with the U.S. rate of 403. And Maine’s mortality rate is 161, compared with the U.S. rate of 144.
Carolyn Bancroft, the director of the cancer registry at the Maine CDC, said some of the factors that contribute to cancer include alcohol and tobacco use, exposure to ultraviolet rays, environmental factors such as radon and arsenic, and obesity.
“Here in Maine, we found that, for Mainers between ages 20 and 49, obesity-associated cancers have risen,” she said. “While all other types of non-obesity associated cancers have declined.”
She said Maine is seeing a rise in pancreas, melanoma and kidney cancers, which are also increasing across the U.S.
Also nationally, a new report from the American Cancer Society finds that cancer incidence is declining among people 65 and older but increasing among younger adults.
Bancroft said in Maine, the majority of people diagnosed with cancer continues to be those ages 65 and older. And even though overall rates among adolescents and young adults have been stable, she said there has been an increase in breast and thyroid cancer among women ages 30-39.
“One of our key takeaways from the analysis of cancer among adolescents and young adults is that risk factors such as tobacco use, vaping, alcohol consumption, obesity, lack of physical activity, those may contribute to increased cancer risk in adulthood and later in life,” Bancroft said. “So the actions that individuals are taking now impact their cancer risk in the future.”
She said the state CDC will analyze more age-specific trends this year to see if younger adults in Maine are experiencing an increase in colorectal and lung cancer, which has been seen elsewhere in the U.S.
This article appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
