Cancer in Nevada

The following definitions have been adapted from the National Cancer Institute.

Incidence rate: The number of new cases of disease diagnosed among a defined population and during a specified time.

Crude rate: A measure that expresses the number of events within a population without taking age, gender, race, or other factors into consideration.

Age-adjusted rate:A statistical measure that allows groups of people to be compared in a way that the age distribution differences between the groups in a study do not affect what is being measured.

Mortality rate: The number of deaths from a certain disease or cause in a defined population and during a specified time.

Stage at diagnosis: A way to categorize the amount of spread of cancer in the body based on physical exams, imaging or laboratory tests, or biopsies. Staging is usually based on the size of the tumor, whether lymph nodes contain cancer, and whether the cancer has spread from the original site to other parts of the body.

Early stage: A term used to describe cancer that is early in its growth and may not have spread to other parts of the body. What is called early stage may differ between cancer types.

Late stage: A term used to describe cancer that is far along in its growth and has spread to the lymph nodes or other places in the body.

Metastatic: Cancer that has spread from the primary site (where it started) to other places in the body.

Rural vs. frontier: There are a variety of definitions for rural, but in general rural communities have lower population density and lie within non-metropolitan counties and census tracts. Frontier areas are those with sparse populations and isolation from population centers and services. 

Cancer not only affects the daily lives and current and long-term health of Nevadans—it places a significant economic burden on those who are diagnosed, their caregivers and families, employers, and the healthcare system. Data from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) confirms that cancer is among the most costly medical conditions to treat in the U.S., with cost varying by stage at diagnosis, type of cancer, and type of treatment.[i] Using national benchmarks from the NCI and adjusted for Nevada’s population, the

annual cost of cancer in Nevada exceeds $1.9 billion, with about $765 million in direct medical expenses and more than $1.1 billion in lost productivity and early mortality.[ii] In addition to cancer treatment costs covered by insurers, patients and their families are burdened with out-of-pocket costs for treatment such as through deductibles and coinsurance, illness-associated costs such as medications and transportation, and long-term costs for disease surveillance and management of late effects of cancer. This financial burden comes at a time when income is often reduced for both the patient and their care partner, leading to potential difficulty paying for necessities such as housing and food along with possible long-term medical debt. According to the CDC’s Chronic Disease Cost Calculator, a 1% reduction in tobacco use, obesity, and late-stage diagnoses could save Nevada tens of millions in medical and productivity costs each year.