Association of lung cancer death rates by parish with migration rate by age group

Geographic distribution of cancer incidence, as judged from death certificates in Louisiana, shows evidence of strong epidemiological forces. Inspection of data on migration and lung cancer frequency shows them to be associated. Inmigrants account for a majority of the lung cancer deaths. Under assumptions of phenotypic complexity stemming from both genetic and environmental components, we used a multiple regression technique to test the significance of this association. Given the nature of the data and the assumptions of the analysis, there was a reasonable level of significance, suggesting that inmigration of older persons may be largely responsible for higher cancer rates in some parishes (counties) in Louisiana.