Cancer Death Rates For White Women By Birth Year Nationwide,
lung cancer death rates reached a peak for white women born in
1933. To compare death rates by state, researchers calculated
ratios with the 1933 rate set to 1.0. California has long been a
trendsetter. But when it comes to reducing smoking and lung
cancer, the Golden State's success hasn't taken the entire
nation by storm. Just take a look at the chart, which shows lung
cancer death rates among white women by the year they were born.
For those women born since 1933, lung cancer death rates in
California have dropped by more than half. In Alabama, they've
more than doubled. Why such a big discrepancy between the best
state and the worst? "Lung cancer follows the smoking pattern,"
Ahmedin Jemal, an epidemiologist at the American Cancer Society,
tells Shots. California led the way with excise taxes on
cigarettes and ordinances banning smoking at the workplace and
in bars. The state also did a lot to encourage smokers to quit.
Alabama and other states