"Leading Causes of Death." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for
Health Statistics, 2021, www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm#print.
This article discusses the leading causes of death in the U.S., as well as the number of deaths per type. This data is important because it contextualizes the significance of cancer as a public health concern, and supports the efforts to increase funding and research towards cancer and its many forms. For our research, this information is particularly useful in the grand scheme of our narrative, in which we consider Cancer’s effects in the U.S. amongst various other diseases that are known to take many lives. By comparing it to other global public health concerns that have been extensively funded and researched, the data emphasizes the need for further research like many of the other diseases.
Cinar Derya, and Dilaver Tas. “Cancer in the elderly.” Northern Clinics of Istanbul vol. 2,1
73-80. 24 Apr. 2015.
This article discusses the mortality rates among the elderly, compared to younger demographics. The resource is useful because it examines various factors that may contribute to the data and the disparities that are found within it. The dataset showcases an overwhelming disparity between adults age 65 and older and their cancer mortality, compared to those below that age. The article looks at data regarding cancer types, mortality, age, race, gender, and location in order to examine why elderly individuals have much higher rates of cancer mortality. From this article, we are able to note valuable information that looks at cancer mortality from an intersectional lens, paying attention to how multiple factors can exist and contribute to the effect we see, and sometimes compound. Specifically, we see how age, physical fitness, dietary habits, and immune health can be interrelated and exacerbate an elderly individual’s susceptibility to developing cancer, and passing from it.
Kim H, Lim H, Moon A. “Sex Differences in Cancer: Epidemiology, Genetics and Therapy”.
Biomolecules & Therapeutics, 2018, https://doi.org/10.4062/biomolther.2018.103.
This article’s research shows that men are more likely to die from cancer, especially from hematological malignancies. This resource is important because it suggests that this disparity is attributed to regulation at the genetic/molecular level and sex hormones rather than differences in personal habits across sexes. This resource was significant as it confirmed our findings in the total cancer death rate analysis of how men are more likely to die from cancer. Moreover, it helped answer the question of whether this disparity was explained by any socioeconomic reasons with us coming to the conclusion with this article’s findings that this disparity is more likely based on biological factors.
Lawrence WR, McGee-Avila JK, Vo JB, et al. “Trends in Cancer Mortality Among Black
Individuals in the US From 1999 to 2019”. May 19, 2022. JAMA Oncology.
This article discusses how cancer death rates are higher among black people in the United States. This resource is important because it highlights the disparities in cancer death rates among black individuals in the United States, providing valuable insights into healthcare challenges their community faces. This resource provides statistical data on the cancer death rates which can be used to strengthen analysis of healthcare disparities in cancer outcomes in our projects and confirming that our findings are backed by research. Additionally, we were able to note from this article the reasons why there is such a trend which reveals socioeconomic reasons and allows us to analyze the data through the lens of data Marxism in discussing the idea of challenging oppressive socioeconomic groups in relation to racial justice.
Lyon, J L et al. “Cancer in Utah: risk by religion and place of residence.” Journal of the National
Cancer Institute vol. 65, no.5, 1980
The article discusses the comparison between cancer incidence between Mormons and non-Mormons living in urban and rural areas of Utah from 1967 to 1975. The results were important as the research found that non-Mormon urban men had a higher risk of cancer compared to rural counterparts and such differences are concluded to be a result of personal habits such as smoking and drinking and reproductive factors. This was relevant to our thesis as it helped explain the different choice of personal habits from Utah’s population as being tied to religion and environment. More importantly, it did not confirm our initial hypothesis that the disparity between Utah and other states were due to socioeconomic factors at least not in a direct way, but this is not necessarily negative for our thesis as we were able to rule out the idea that living in different states is directly correlated with cancer deaths and allowed us to focus on whether different identities were related to higher risks of cancer deaths.
Lyon, J L et al. “Low cancer incidence and mortality in Utah.” Cancer vol. 39, no. 6, 1977.
This article discusses the cancer mortality and morbidity for the years 1950-1969 and 1966-1970 respectively. This article is significant as it shows how Utah has lower cases of cancers than other states and explains these differences with personal habits such as cigarette smoking and alcohol drinking. This was relevant to answering our question of whether there was a disparity between states in cancer deaths upon noticing that Utah’s death rate was considerably lower than that of other states from our visualizations. We sought to understand if there’s systemic reasons as to why this is, and this paper’s results have shown that Utah’s phenomenon has been historically true and explains it as a different choice of personal habits from Utah’s population.
Michelle Tong, Latoya Hill, and Samantha Artiga. “Racial Disparities in Cancer Outcomes, Screening, and Treatment.” KFF, 3 Feb. 2022,
This article discusses racial disparities in cancer outcomes, screening, and treatment and what could be done to resolve such disparities. This is important as the article notes how screening rates are lower while later stage diagnoses are more likely in non-White populations, which is attributed to inequities in the healthcare system and society overall and responsible for many deaths as Black people continued to have the highest cancer mortality rates. This resource was extremely critical to our thesis as it confirmed that there are indeed racial disparities in cancer death rates as we observed from our data and visualizations and confirmed that there is correlation between race and death rates. Moreover, this article also discusses systemic issues such as medical trials not accounting for people of color, allowing us deeper insight in applying intersectionality into seeing how identities play a role on the patient end as well as bias and discrimination from the medical and scientific communities and what could be done.