LSU Health New Orleans LA Tumor Registry Releases 6th Census Tract Cancer Incidence Report

April 3, 2023

LSU Health New Orleans Louisiana Tumor Registry (LTR) has published the sixth report of statewide cancer incidence rates by census tract. The publication, which reports 2010-2019 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. Cancer Incidence in Louisiana by Census Tract 2010-2019 is available online here.

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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 – 2010-2019.

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, 933 met the publication criteria for all cancers combined. For specific cancer types, fewer census tracts met the criteria.

For all cancers combined, of the 933 census tracts meeting the publication criteria when 2010-2019 data were combined, 124 census tracts from 38 parishes had statistically significantly higher incidence rates as compared with Louisiana, and 107 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 rate is 893.5 per 100,000. There are 26.0 cases on average per year among a population of 2,524.

The second statistically significantly higher rate is also in Orleans Parish – the Desire Neighborhood (22071013700). The rate is 738.8 per 100,000. There are 14.8 cases on average per year among a population of 2,200.

The third statistically significantly higher rate is found in Lafourche Parish in the Brule area near the town of Thibodaux (22057020702). The rate is 731.8 per 100,000. There are 19.5 cases on average per year among a population of 3,172.

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

Results for the most common specific cancer types include:

Findings for other cancer types include:

“Cancer remains the second leading cause of death in the United States even during the COVID-19 pandemic,” notes Xiao-Cheng Wu, MD, MPH, Professor and Director of the Louisiana Tumor Registry at LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health. “According to the National Center for Health Statistics data, the number of cancer deaths surpassed the number of COVID-19 deaths in both 2020 and 2021. The timely publication of this cancer report underscores our unwavering commitment to providing high-quality and timely cancer data for cancer control, prevention and cancer research. We would like to extend a well-deserved shout-out to everyone at the hospital and regional 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 13 consecutive years. One of only 22 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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