Regional variation in lung and bronchus cancer survival in the US using mortality-to-incidence ratios

Despite major achievements aimed at reducing smoking over the last 50 years in the U.S., lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death. This study used mortality-to-incidence rate ratios (MIR) calculated from 2008 to 2012 National Cancer Institute data to highlight state-level variations in relative lung and bronchus cancer survival. In an ad hoc sensitivity analysis, we calculated a correlation between our state-level MIRs and five-year 1-survival rates for states reporting incident lung and bronchus cancer cases (2004-2008) to the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program database. Differences were observed in state lung and bronchus cancer MIRs, with the highest MIR values (poor relative survival) in southern states and the lowest MIRs primarily in northeastern states. In our sensitivity analysis, state-level MIRs were highly correlated with 1-survival rates. Examining regional variation in survival using MIRs can be a useful tool for identifying areas of health disparities and conducting surveillance activities.