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  New Orleans, LA – LSU Health New Orleans Louisiana Tumor Registry (LTR) has published the fifth report of statewide cancer incidence rates by census tract. The publication, which reports 2009-2018 combined cancer incidence data, found that 81% of the census tracts in Louisiana met publication criteria for all cancers combined. For specific cancer types, fewer census tracts met the criteria. For the Louisiana census tracts meeting the criteria, the incidence rates for all cancers combined and for specific cancer types were compared with the corresponding rates for the entire state. The numbers of census tracts with statistically significantly higher incidence rates as compared to the rates for Louisiana varied by cancer type. The report is available online here.

            The release of cancer incidence data is governed by the federal patient privacy law and federal standards for producing valid data. To protect patient confidentiality, HIPAA prohibits publication of health information by geographic area when the underlying population is 20,000 or less. The United States Cancer Statistics standards for generating reliable cancer incidence rates require case counts of 16 or more to report. To increase the number of census tracts meeting the publication criteria, LTR combined 10 years of data – 2009-2018.

            The cancer incidence rate is the number of newly diagnosed cancer cases in a specified population during the specified years, usually expressed as the number of cancers per 100,000 population.

            Census tracts are small, relatively permanent statistical subdivisions of a parish.  Census tracts generally have a population size between 1,200 and 8,000 people. Of the 1,148 census tracts in Louisiana, 930 met the publication criteria for all cancers combined. For specific cancer types, fewer census tracts met the criteria.

            For all cancers combined, of the 930 census tracts meeting the publication criteria when 2009-2018 data were combined, 98 census tracts from 35 parishes had statistically significantly higher incidence rates as compared with Louisiana, and 105 census tracts had lower incidence rates.

            The census tract with the highest incidence rate that is statistically significant for all cancers combined in Louisiana is 22071013400, which is in the Central Business District/Warehouse District in Orleans Parish. The second statistically significantly higher rate is also in Orleans Parish – the Desire Neighborhood (22071013700). The third statistically significantly higher rate is found in Lafourche Parish in the Brule area near the town of Thibodaux (22057020702).

            There are census tracts with a statistically higher cancer incidence rate than Louisiana for all cancers combined in Acadia, Ascension, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Calcasieu, De Soto, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberia, Iberville, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lafourche, Livingston, Morehouse, Orleans, Ouachita, Rapides, Richland, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. James, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary, St. Tammany, Terrebonne, Vermillion, Vernon, Washington , Webster, and West Baton Rouge parishes.

            Results for the most common specific cancer types include:

            Cancers of the Lung and Bronchus: Of the 852 census tracts meeting the publication criteria, 71 census tracts in 34 parishes had statistically significantly higher incidence rates than Louisiana, and 61 census tracts had lower rates.

            Prostate Cancer: Of the 475 census tracts meeting the publication criteria, 39 census tracts in 19 parishes had statistically significantly higher incidence rates than Louisiana, and 38 had lower rates.

            Female Breast Cancer: Of the 518 census tracts meeting the publication criteria, 27 census tracts in 10 parishes had statistically significantly higher incidence rates than Louisiana, and 24 census tracts had lower rates.

            Colorectal Cancer: Of the 691 census tracts meeting the publication criteria, 47 census tracts in 26 parishes had statistically significantly higher incidence rates than Louisiana, and 28 census tracts had lower rates.

            Cancers of the Kidney and Renal Pelvis: Of the 197 census tracts meeting the publication criteria, 20 census tracts in 13 parishes had statistically significantly higher incidence rates than Louisiana, and none had lower rates.

            Findings for other cancer types include:

            Non-Hodgkin lymphoma: Of the 129 census tracts meeting the publication criteria, 17 census tracts in 13 parishes had statistically significantly higher incidence rates than Louisiana, and none had lower rates.

            Urinary Bladder Cancer: Of the 123 census tracts meeting the publication criteria, 25 census tracts in 12 parishes had statistically significantly higher incidence rates than Louisiana, and none had lower rates.

            Melanoma of the Skin: Of the 133 census tracts meeting the publication criteria, 73 census tracts in 20 parishes had statistically significantly higher incidence rates than Louisiana, and none had lower rates.

            Pancreas: Of the 36 census tracts meeting the publication criteria, 10 census tracts in 7 parishes had statistically significantly higher incidence rates than Louisiana, and none had lower rates.

            Oral Cavity & Pharynx: Of the 29 census tracts meeting the publication criteria, 10 census tracts in 10 parishes had statistically significantly higher incidence rates than Louisiana, and none had lower rates.

            Leukemia: Of the 42 census tracts meeting the publication criteria, 7 census tracts in 7 parishes had statistically significantly higher incidence rates than Louisiana, and none had lower rates.

            Thyroid: Of the 48 census tracts meeting the publication criteria, 19 census tracts in 13 parishes had statistically significantly higher incidence rates than Louisiana, and none had lower rates.

            Corpus Uterus: Of the 3 census tracts meeting the publication criteria, 1 census tract in 1 parish had a statistically significantly higher incidence rate than Louisiana, and none had lower rates.

            Liver and Intrahepatic Bile Duct: Of the 9 census tracts meeting the publication criteria, 8 census tracts in 6 parishes had statistically significantly higher incidence rates than Louisiana, and none had lower rates.

            Stomach: Of the 2 census tracts meeting the publication criteria, 2 census tracts in 2 parishes had a statistically significantly higher incidence rate than Louisiana, and none had lower rates.

            Myeloma: Of 2 census tracts meeting the publication criteria, 2 census tracts in 2 parishes had a statistically significantly higher incidence rate than Louisiana.

            “Cancer is still the second leading cause of death in the United States, and the number of cancer deaths exceeded the COVID-19 deaths in 2020,” notes Xiao-Cheng Wu, MD, MPH, Professor and Director of the Louisiana Tumor Registry at LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health. “Publishing this report on time indicates our continued commitment to providing high-quality and timely cancer data for cancer control and prevention, even during the challenging time of the COVID-19 pandemic. I want to give a shout out to everyone at hospital, regional, and central registries in Louisiana. Their hard work made this report possible.”

            LSU Health New Orleans Louisiana Tumor Registry is a statewide population-based cancer registry authorized by law to collect data on all reportable cancer cases occurring among Louisiana residents. A registry serves as an official count of a specific thing and its associated identifying information.

            A cancer registry systematically collects data on reportable cancers, which includes patient demographics, cancer type, stage at diagnosis, and the first course of treatment, as well as survival. This information is used to answer questions such as: Are more or fewer people getting colorectal cancer from one reporting period to the next?

            LTR’s job is to collect high-quality cancer data, which guide and support cancer prevention and control activities, as well as many other cancer-related programs and research. Policymakers, state health departments, cancer control programs and other qualified health professionals decide if further action is warranted based on the LTR data.

            LTR’s excellence is attested by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR).  LTR consistently achieves the benchmark of 98% case completeness set forth by NCI and has received first place awards for the quality and completeness of its data from NCI’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program for the past 12 consecutive years. One of only 21 cancer registries in the country comprising NCI’s SEER Program, LTR is considered to be one of the leading cancer registries in the nation.

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LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans educates Louisiana’s health care professionals. The state’s flagship health sciences university, LSU Health New Orleans includes a School of Medicine with branch campuses in Baton Rouge and Lafayette, the state’s only School of Dentistry, Louisiana’s only public School of Public Health, and Schools of Allied Health Professions, Nursing, and Graduate Studies. LSU Health New Orleans faculty take care of patients in public and private hospitals and clinics throughout the region. In the vanguard of biosciences research in a number of areas in a worldwide arena, the LSU Health New Orleans research enterprise generates jobs and enormous economic impact. LSU Health New Orleans faculty have made lifesaving discoveries and continue to work to prevent, advance treatment, or cure disease. To learn more, visit http://www.lsuhsc.edu, http://www.twitter.com/LSUHealthNO, or http://www.facebook.com/LSUHSC.