Geographic patterns of prostate cancer in the United States

Age-adjusted rates of mortality from prostate cancer during 1950-69 were correlated by race with demographic, industrial, and agricultural data from 3,056 U.S. countries. Mortality among nonwhites was 50% higher than that among whites in all parts of the country where blacks comprise most of the nonwhite population. The rising rate associated with population density among nonwhites, but not whites, suggested that environmental exposures related to urban living may account for the predisposition of American blacks to prostate cancer. Despite a clustering of counties with elevated mortality in certain North Central and Northeastern States, the geographic variation among whites with prostate tumors was considerably less than that among whites with other tumors. Mortality was elevated in counties with a high percentage of residents of Scandinavian descent, in counties with metal-using and textile industries, and in regions with high consumption of high-fat foods.