Cancer is the number one cause of death for Alaska Natives, with an average of 177 Alaska Native cancer deaths and more than 400 new cases of cancer diagnosed each year. In order to better understand the impact of cancer in Alaskan communities, the Alaska Native Tumor Registry released a 45 year report on the cancer data collected and monitored at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium’s Alaska Native Epidemiology Center between 1969-2013. The collected cancer incidence data can be used for health status monitoring, strategic planning and evaluation in order to decrease cancer incidence and mortality in our state. View the complete report, Cancer in Alaska Native People: 1969-2013, The 45 Year Report.

The most frequently diagnosed cancers found among Alaska Natives include colorectal, breast, and lung cancers, accounting for 53.2% of all invasive cancer diagnoses. Between 2009-2013 alone, a total of 2,123 cases of invasive cancer were diagnosed across the state, accounting for 53.2% of all invasive cancer diagnoses. According to the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, more observable trends in cancer incidence are as follows:

• In the Kodiak region, prostate cancer incidence rates were higher than the average rate for Alaska Natives statewide.

• Colorectal cancer rates remain significantly higher among Alaska Native people than in U.S. whites. Colorectal cancer rates for Alaska Native people have remained relatively flat, while rates for the U.S. whites have declined.

• Breast cancer is the second most frequently diagnosed cancer among Alaska Native people and is the leading cancer among women. After years of increases from the 1970s to 1990s, rates among Alaska Native women have not yet significatly changed since the mid-1990s, but have now reached similar incidence rates of U.S. white women.

• Lung cancer is the third most frequently diagnosed cancer among Alaska Native men and women combined. Nationally, tobacco use is associated with at least 30 percent of all cancer deaths and Alaska Native people have rates of smoking that are two times higher than Alaska non-Natives or U.S. whites.

More information about cancer incidence and mortality can be found at the Alaska Native Tumor Registry and on the KANA website under Kodiak’s Regional Health Profile.

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