OVER the past two decades, age-adjusted mortality rates (ASMR) in kidney cancer have decreased across all genders, races, and ethnicities, revealed Nour Abdallah, Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, USA, during a poster presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting 2023.
The trends in age-adjusted cancer mortality rates by gender, race, and ethnicity were analysed by the research team, at both national and state levels. They used the CDC Wonder database to access the national and state-wide kidney cancer mortality data from 1999–2020 and discovered that 284,224 deaths occurred over the 20-year period, with a decline in recent years.
Males demonstrated a lower decrease in ASMR, while maintaining a significant higher ASMR throughout. To evaluate the difference in metro and non-metro regions, the researchers analysed the national trends based on 2012 National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Urban-Rural Classification Scheme for Counties. Throughout the study, non-metro regions had higher ASMR. There was only a 4.7% decline in non-metro regions, while there was a 15% decline in ASMR in metro regions.
The results demonstrate that better kidney cancer care is required in non-metro areas to bridge the gap between rural and urban populations. Abdallah and colleagues concluded that the lower kidney cancer mortality is likely attributable to earlier detection and improved therapeutics; however, they emphasised that the differences in outcomes by gender, race, and ethnicity call for strategies to improve our understanding of the aetiology and address disparities.
