A new report shows more Iowa kids are getting cancer today than was the case 25 years ago. Dr. Charles Lynch, the medical director of the Iowa Cancer Registry at the University of Iowa, released the report yesterday. The rate of newly diagnosed cancers has increased 25 percent in Iowa boys and 35 percent in Iowa girls from 1973 to 1998. But Lynch says there’s been a 50 percent decline in the number of kids who die from cancer, due to more effective detection and treatment. But he says there does appear to be a true increase in the number of childhood cancers.Dr. Lynch says Iowa doesn’t appear to be a cancer hot spot when compared to the other states, as Iowa ranks 35th for mortality rates and in the middle for cancer rate.Lynch’s report makes predictions about the coming year, projecting the cancer cases and deaths will hold steady.Four types of cancer account for over half of the cancer deaths in Iowa, lung, colorectal, breast and prostate.Lung cancer is responsible for one of every four cancer deaths in Iowa.
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