Report says fewer Iowans will die from cancer in 2002

University of Iowa cancer researchers are making predictions about how that disease will strike Iowans in 2002. Lung cancer cases will account for one in four Iowa cancer deaths this year, according to the annual report from the State Health Registry of Iowa, based at the U-of-I. Dr. Charles Lynch is the Registry’s director and is a professor of epidemiology at the U-of-I.The annual report estimates 63-hundred Iowans will die from cancer this year, a slight decrease from last year, while 14-thousand-600 new cancer cases will be diagnosed statewide, a slight increase. Of the expected Iowa cancer deaths, 74-hundred will be women and 72-hundred will be men. Dr. Lynch explains why there’ll be fewer cancer deaths, but more cases diagnosed.He says there are more screenings for various cancers and we’re detecting them more frequently, while developing more effective therapies. Dr. Lynch says breast, prostate, colorectal and lung cancers will account for more than half of all the new Iowa cancer cases. Despite recent reports to the contrary, Dr. Lynch says research at the U-of-I shows mammography -is- effective in saving women’s lives from breast cancer.