County Cancer Rate Is Lower Than National Average : Health: A survey shows that the area ‘very closely mirrors’ statewide results, an official says.

Cancer rates in Ventura County are slightly higher than the state average but fall short of the national average, according to data released Tuesday by health officials.

Results of the California Tumor Registry’s 1988 cancer survey show that the overall rate of cancers in the county was 345 cases per 100,000 people--compared to 341 per 100,000 statewide. The nationwide average was 375 per 100,000 cases.

“When we look at the data for Ventura County, it very closely mirrors what we see statewide,” said John Young, who supervises the cancer survey for the state Department of Health Services. “I wish I had something startling to say . . . but compared to the state as a whole, Ventura County looks very average.”

According to the data, prostate cancer was the most common tumor among Ventura County men, at 91 cases per 100,000. Breast cancer was the most frequently diagnosed malignancy among women, at 102 cases per 100,000.

For both sexes combined, cancer of the digestive system was the most common in Ventura County, with 70 cases per 100,000. Meanwhile, lung cancer accounted for 54 cases per 100,000--a number Young said he finds disturbing.

“As the rates of lung cancer among males are starting to level off and come down, the rates for females are increasing very rapidly,” Young told reporters at a news conference at Ventura County Medical Center.

“We have not done a very good job with the female population in convincing them that smoking is not a very good idea.”

People who get lung cancer are much more likely to die from the disease than those with any other malignancy, said Larry Dodds, medical director of county Public Health Services.

Of 331 county residents with lung cancer, 259 died, the survey showed.

“It’s a silent killer,” Dodds said. “By the time it is detected, it is usually too far progressed.”

He said people with other types of cancer were 50% more likely to survive than those with lung cancer.

Statewide, among men there were 50,949 new cancer cases of all types in 1988 and 24,578 deaths. Among women there were 52,465 new cancer cases and 22,803 deaths.

Since 1985, it has been mandatory to report cancer cases in California. In 1988, the state tumor registry was expanded to cover the entire population of California through 10 regional registries. After two years of collecting data, this is the first time that detailed cancer figures have been available for Ventura County.

Dodds said the new information will give public health officials an important tool that they can use for cancer prevention programs, such as anti-smoking campaigns. Also, the data are likely to prove valuable for public health officials who track unusual patterns of cancer cases and clusters of leukemia.

“I get a lot of phone calls from people who are concerned about cancer occurring in the county,” Dodds said. “I can tell them that we have no clusters.” According to the survey, there were eight cases of leukemia per 100,000 people in Ventura County in 1988, about the same as the state average.