THE U.S. COUNTIES WHERE kids and teenagers are most likely to suffer from cancer are also the most economically successful, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
About 15,000 people under 20 are diagnosed with some form of cancer every year, and estimated incidence rates in the CDC report shed light on where they live and what resources may be available to them.
In the U.S. overall, there were 173.7 pediatric cancer cases per 1 million people between 2003 and 2014, but incidence rates ranged from a high of 188 cases in the Northeast to a low of 168 cases in the South, the report said.
The burden also varied by area economy and urban-rural status, with incidence rates highest in the 25 percent of U.S. counties with the highest economic status – a designation the CDC said involves measures of per capita income, unemployment and poverty rates. Rates also were highest in metro areas with 1 million or more residents, the CDC data show.