TUESDAY, Oct. 20, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- For women with breast cancer, survival is inferior in rural areas, and decreases in mortality rates are slower in rural areas for cancers amenable to early detection, according to two studies presented at the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology Quality Care Symposium, held from Oct. 16 to 17 in Boston.
Jingxuan Zhao, Ph.D., M.P.H., from the American Cancer Society in Atlanta, and colleagues examined survival trends in 2,821,166 women with breast cancer diagnosed from 2004 to 2023, by rural-urban residency in the United States. The researchers found that women in small metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas were more likely to have inferior survival compared with those residing in large metropolitan areas, with increased mortality during 2010 to 2016 and 2017 to 2023 (hazard ratios, 1.034 and 1.093, respectively, for nonmetropolitan areas).
Xuesong Han, Ph.D., also from the American Cancer Society, and colleagues examined trends in distant-stage incidence and all-cause mortality rates from 1995 to 2022 for cancers amenable to early detection. The researchers found that age-standardized distant-stage incidence rates increased in urban and rural counties for melanoma, female breast, and cervical cancers from 1995 to 2022 continuously and for prostate cancer since 2011. Decreases were seen for colorectal cancer continuously and for lung cancer since 2010. Age-standardized mortality rates decreased continuously for almost all cancer types. In rural versus urban areas, increases in distant-stage incidence rates were faster and decreases in mortality rates were slower.
"The challenges patients living in rural areas face in accessing cancer preventive and treatment services must be addressed," Lisa A. Lacasse, president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, said in a statement.
