Health Effects » Data – Cancer

NM EPHT Health Effects Data: Cancer

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Cancer refers to a group of diseases in which abnormal cells in the body grow out of control. Cancer is not just one disease but many (at least 100) different but related diseases. Cancers are often named after the part of the body where the abnormal cell growth began, for example, lung cancer. Usually, the long period of time between the first cellular abnormality and the clinical diagnosis that cancer is present makes it difficult to pinpoint the cause of cancer. Cancer is one of the most common chronic diseases and is second only to heart disease as the leading cause of death. In New Mexico, we track the following cancers: bladder cancer, brain and spinal cord cancer, breast cancer, leukemia, lung cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and thyroid cancer.

You can learn basic facts about cancer and read more on specific cancers at cancer.org and CDC Cancer (external Web sites). Read more about cancers in New Mexico at NM Tumor Registry (external Web site).

There are several cancers that have been associated with environmental factors as one of many possible causes. The New Mexico Tumor Registry (NMTR) provides a data query system of most cancers occurring in New Mexicans, including environmentally associated ones. This query site provides access to public health data and information on New Mexico's cancer rates by county. Seven cancers have been presented in our Environmental Public Health Tracking site: bladder, brain, breast, leukemia, lung, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and thyroid. For additional queries on these cancers, as well as others, please refer to NMTR, http://www.cancer-rates.info/nm/ (external Web site).

For NM EPHT information about and data for a specific type of cancer, follow the appropriate link below.