From the ArcaMax Publishing, Women Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/women/s-571377-359227
FREMONT, Calif. (UPI) -- The recent decline in U.S. breast cancer was
less pronounced among the poor and those living in rural areas,
researchers said.
Study leader Christina Clarke of the Northern California Cancer Center
studied breast cancer incidence data from the largest U.S. cancer
database for 1997-2004, comparing poor areas against rich and urban
areas against rural.
"Between 2001-2004, incidence rates of invasive breast cancer declined
more than 8 percent in the United States," Clarke said in a statement.
"One possible explanation for this is widespread discontinuation of
and/or failure to initiate hormone therapy. Because this cessation of
hormone therapy use was more pronounced in rich/urban areas, we wanted
to see if there was a corresponding difference in breast cancer
incidence between these areas and poor/rural parts of the country."
The study, published in the journal BMC Medicine, found breast cancer
incidence trends for rural counties peaked in 1999 and then declined
steadily, differing from those observed in urban counties, where rates
fell dramatically after 2002.
The researchers speculate that this may be due to more media coverage
of the harmful effects of hormone therapy in the 2002 Women's Health
Initiative trial in urban areas.