Special Report

This Is How Many People Cancer Kills in North Dakota

Hristina Byrnes

Published: February 17, 2021 3:00 am

Last Updated: February 19, 2021 10:33 am

Even though the COVID-19 pandemic claimed the lives of over 340,000 in the U.S. in 2020, Americans were still much more likely to die from cancer, the second leading cause of death in the country.

24/7 Tempo reviewed the population-adjusted cancer mortality rate in every state using data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to identify the states where the largest share of the population dies from cancer.

More than 1.7 million Americans were diagnosed with cancer in 2017, the latest year for which data on cancer incidence rate is available. Nearly 600,000 died from the disease that year. Two years later, in 2019, again, almost 600,000 people died of cancer. The difference in cancer mortality rate per capita varies from state to state.

North Dakota has the 14th lowest mortality rate in the U.S. In 2019, there were 141 age-adjusted cancer deaths per 100,000 residents in the state, compared to a national average of 149 per 100,000 people.

Lung cancer is the deadliest type of cancer in both men and women. In 2017, 310 people in North Dakota died of the disease, 35 per 100,000 residents, the 17th lowest rate among all states.

The states with the highest cancer mortality rates do not necessarily have the highest incidence of new diagnoses, suggesting that other risk factors — such as access to health care, smoking, and obesity — may have an impact on cancer survival.

North Dakota has the 17th lowest poverty rate in the U.S., at 10.6%, compared to a national poverty rate of 12.3%. The state’s adult obesity rate of 32.7% is 13th highest of all states in the country. The U.S. obesity rate is 29.0%.

Tobacco is the single biggest cause of cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute. About 18.3% of adults in North Dakota are regular smokers, the 18th highest adult smoking rate in the country, and compared to a 17.0% smoking rate across the country as a whole.

The likelihood of being diagnosed with cancer depends on a range of factors — including racial, economic, and education differences — that contribute to large variations in cancer incidence as well as survival rate —This is the racial divide in cancer deaths in every state and D.C.