Politics & Government

Health Dept. Releases 1990s Fridley Cancer Figures

The new figures, for the years 1988 through 1999, are based on the 55432 zip code.

Along with the , the Minnesota Department of Health also released Monday limited data that shed light for the first time on official cancer rates in Fridley during the 1990s.

John Soler, an epidemiologist at the health department, said the overall cancer rate in the 55432 zip code was 5.6 percent higher than the state average between the years 1988 and 1999. The 55432 zip code includes most of Fridley and part of Spring Lake Park.

Incidents of lung and bronchus cancer were 12.4 percent higher than expected over the same time period.

Number of Incidents of Cancer in 55432 between 1988 and 1999
(Expected figures are based on state-wide averages.)

Type of cancer Observed Expected All types combined 1587 1503 Lung and bronchus 208 185

Both percentages are lower than the recomputed state data for the 2000s, which put Fridley’s overall cancer rate at 7.6 percent and the city’s lung cancer rate at 30 percent. But the 2000s data were culled from the city of Fridley’s records, while the 1990s data, due to census complications was only drawn from the 55432 zip code.

Soler has said that the state’s cancer figures are drawn exclusively from people’s addresses at the date of their diagnosis and do not include people who contracted cancer in Fridley and moved away.

Find out what's happening in Fridleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

See also a separate post from earlier Monday: "UPDATED: MN Dept. of Health Revises Fridley Cancer Rates Downward"

As a result, members of the Fridley Cancer Cluster Facebook group might not be satisfied by the lower figures.

After the reduced 2000s data set was released this morning, Jason McCarty, the Facebook group’s founder, wrote on its discussion board that he still hoped for a more thorough survey.

“What about us who lived there for 20+ years then got cancer after they moved away?” he asked on the board. 

Find out what's happening in Fridleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Number of Incidents of Cancer in Fridley between 2000 and 2009
(Expected figures are based on state-wide averages.)

Type of cancer Observed (April) Expected (April) Observed (March) Expected (March) All types combined 1529 1421 1537 1402 Oral cavity (mouth and throat) 33 33 33 33 Esophagus and stomach 34 31 34 31 Colo-rectal 135 136 135 133 Pancreas 32 28 33 30 Lung and bronchus 223 172 224 170 Melanoma of skin 55 60 56 63 Breast 212 203 213 198 Uterine 42 43 42 45 Ovarian 21 20 21 19 Prostate 259 260 256 261 Bladder 77 66 77 66 Kidney 41 44 41 47 Brain 17 19 17 18 Thyroid 30 27 30 30 Non-Hodgkin's lymphona 70 63 72 63 Leukemias 49 42 49 44

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