On Staten Island, heart disease is biggest killer; cancer is a close second
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- What will be the cause your death?
For Staten Islanders, and residents of the city's other four boroughs, heart disease will do you in, ahead of any other medical condition. That's according to data routinely collected and publicly reported by city and state health agencies.
Cancer is the close second.
Each week, 48 people on the Island are diagnosed with cancer, and another 16 die from it, according to the latest statistics from the American Cancer Society.
Of the total number of newly diagnosed cases in the borough during the year, female breast cancer topped the list (14.1 percent of all cases), followed by prostate (13.7 percent), lung and bronchus (13.2 percent), and colorectal (9.7 percent).
But lung cancer was the most lethal, accounting for almost 29 percent of all cancer deaths on the Island, with colorectal next, cited for 11 percent of the deaths.
The top four cancers on Staten Island have remained steady over time: Female breast, prostate, lung and colorectal.
In the five-year period from 2005 to 2009, a whopping 6,456 cases of these four cancers were reported, with female breast (1,788 cases) in first place, closely followed by prostate (1,775 cases), and then lung cancer with 1,679 cases and colorectal with 1,214 cases.
Variation within the borough-wide statistics is evident when the data are examined by ZIP code:
Prostate cancer was number one in incidence in five of the Island's 12 ZIP code areas: 10301, 10303, 10304, 10309 and 10314.
Female breast cancer accounted for the most number of cancer cases in South Shore ZIP codes 10307, 10308 and 10312, and 10310 on the North Shore.
Lung cancer topped the lists in the North Shore's 10302 area, and within the boundaries of 10305 and 10306 on the East Shore.
In the Island's most populous ZIP code area -- 10314, with a population of 85,510, as reported in the 2010 census -- there were 1,306 reported cancer cases among the top four. Prostate cancer topped the list with 365 cases, followed by female breast cancer (351), lung (330) and colorectal (250).
The pattern was similar in North Shore ZIP code areas 10301 and 10302 -- with a combined population of almost 48,800 -- where the top four cancers were diagnosed in 752 individuals.
Most prevalent was prostate cancer (222 cases) and then female breast cancer, with 210 cases. There were 178 cases of lung cancer and 142 cases of colorectal cancer.
The pattern changed in South Shore ZIP code areas 10308 and 10312 (covering mostly Great Kills, Annadale, Woodrow and Arden Heights), with a combined population of 86,700. There were more cases of female breast cancer (405) than prostate cancer (360). Lung cancer accounted for 332 cases, and colorectal for another 245.
In Island's lowest-density ZIP code area -- 10307, covering Tottenville and environs, with 14,000 residents -- of 133 incidences of the top-four cancers, female breast (45 cases) was the most frequently reported, followed by lung (43), prostate (30) and colorectal (15).
The cancer-incidence statistics, tracking the four most prevalent cancers among men and women, were released for the borough's ZIP codes by the New York State Cancer Registry in November 2011, and revised in April 2013.
For both men and women on Staten Island, the number of all invasive malignant tumor cases more than doubled between 1976 and 2010, although cancer mortality rates dropped during the same period.
The best cancer survival rates occur for individuals diagnosed in the early stages of the disease. Borough residents with prostate and female breast cancer enjoyed early-detection rates higher than those elsewhere in New York City, according to the 2011 New York State Cancer Registry.
Almost 66 percent of the borough's breast cancer cases were detected early, compared to only 60 percent citywide.
For prostate cancer, 89 percent of the cases here were diagnosed early, three percent higher than the citywide rate.
The incidence of prostate cancer on the Island, and its mortality rate, is similar to that reported by government health agencies for the city and state, said Dr. Nicholas Karanikolas, director of urologic oncology at Staten Island University Hospital in Ocean Breeze.
"It's the same," he said. "And men have to realize this." But with the advent of Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) testing for prostate cancer, "we're seeing a lot more cancers. One in six will be diagnosed, but only one in 36 will die from prostate cancer," he said on Oct. 23.
The leading cause of death in New York City in 2011 and 2010 was heart disease, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene reported in January. Cancer deaths were next, followed by influenza and pneumonia.
The next most frequently reported causes of death were chronic lower respiratory diseases, diabetes mellitus and cerebrovascular diseases, mainly stroke.