Emerging trends and demographic disparities in anal cancer mortality across the United States census regions: An analysis of National Center for Health Statistics mortality data

Aims

Anal cancer, despite its rarity, is a matter of serious concern in the United States, with an uptrend in recent years and marked racial disparities in mortality rates. The aim of this work was to investigate anal cancer mortality trends and sex race disparities in the United States from 1999 to 2020.

Method

This is a retrospective study using data from the CDC WONDER database (1999–2020). We investigated deaths attributed to anal cancer, identified by the ICD-10 code C21.1, and excluded individuals aged 14 years and under. The Mann–Kendall trend test was used to investigate temporal trends and a t-test was used to compare continuous variables.

Results

Both male and female age-adjusted mortality attributed to anal cancer increased significantly during the study period across all subgroups, including race (Black and White), US Census region (Northeast, Midwest, South and West) and age (15–64 and ≥65 years) (p < 0.001 for all comparisons). For each subgroup, women demonstrated significantly higher rates of mortality than men, except in the Black population, where Black men had higher rates than Black women (0.40 vs. 0.29, p < 0.001). Additionally, Black men had significantly higher mean mortality rates than White men (0.40 vs. 0.27, p < 0.001). The highest rates of anal cancer mortality were among geriatric individuals, especially women aged ≥65 years, at 1.18 per 100 000.

Conclusion

The rise in anal cancer mortality and racial and sex disparities present a significant challenge for healthcare providers and policy makers. Further studies are required to devise evidence-based strategies to effectively tackle this challenge.