Study: Rural residents more likely to have alimentary-canal cancers, less likely to get other cancers of digestive system

Rural residents are more likely than urbanites to get cancers of the alimentary canal, from the esophagus to the rectum, but less likely to get cancers of the liver, pancreas or gall bladder, a study has found.

The differences are small; during the study period, alimentary-tract cancers appeared in 37.2 rural people per 100,000, and in 33 urban residents per 100,000. The rates for the other forms of cancer studied were 16.4 among rural residents and 19.4 among urbanites.

The study was conducted by Amir Khan of Southern Illinois University and presented at the Digestive Disease Week conference in San Diego this week, Healio reports.