Lung Cancer Deaths In Women Decline

1. The data was assembled through a group effort by the National Cancer Institute, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries and the American Cancer Society.

2. The report was sponsored by the government.

3. I doubt that the government would be particularly interested in skewing the results of the data however findings that point to a decrease in cancer and cancer related deaths over time may shed a better light on the government and the institutions involved. On the other hand negative findings or an increase in cancer would probably increase public interest and investment for the institutes.

4. There is not a lot of information given by the Tribune article on the specifics of the study however it is clear that it includes both men and women and the data is compiled from at least 40 years of information which came from the Center for Disease Control’s National Center for Health Statistics. Also included is a link to the official report by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute which probably has a fuller description of the methodology and findings.

5. The complete results of the study are not given in a clear manner. The focus of the article was a decrease in lung cancer deaths in women but there was no information on how much the decline was or if contracting lung cancer was also in decline. The other findings of the study were represented in an informative way however overall the article took a positive spin on the findings when there were plenty of negative findings as well. This article would probably be alright for readers interested in the very basic information but not for more details.

6. There were no graphs included

Maugh II, Tomas H. “Lung Cancer Deaths in Women Decline for the First Time in 40 Years.” Chicago Tribune. March 31, 2011. http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/la-heb-cancer-death-rates-03312011,0,1525750.story