Buena Vista County has Iowa’s lowest new cancer rate, report says

Buena Vista County’s headline cancer number looks reassuring, but the details are more uneven. At a July 9 presentation in Storm Lake Community Schools Administrative Offices, the Iowa Cancer Registry said Buena Vista ranked 99th out of Iowa’s 99 counties for new cancer rates, the lowest incidence of new cancer cases in the state.

That countywide rank comes from the Cancer in Iowa: 99 Counties Project, which is moving through all 99 Iowa counties to present local cancer data and hear community concerns. The project is a collaboration of the Iowa Cancer Registry, the University of Iowa College of Public Health, the Iowa Cancer Consortium, Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Iowa Rural Health Association.

Amanda Kahl, an epidemiologist with the registry, said Buena Vista County’s overall incidence rate is significantly lower than the national rate. But the county average does not tell the whole story. Kahl said the male cancer rate in Buena Vista County is similar to the national average, and the Storm Lake presentation said non-Hispanic White and Asian/Pacific Islander rates are also similar to national levels while the Hispanic rate is significantly lower.

Those differences matter because the registry’s own tools are built to show how county cancer incidence and mortality line up with population demographics, social drivers of health and behavioral risk factors. A county can land at the bottom of an Iowa ranking and still have groups that do not share that same pattern, which is why the presentation was aimed at residents, public health officials, community leaders and policymakers, not just statisticians.

The registry says it has served Iowa since 1973 and has been part of the National Cancer Institute’s SEER program since that program began. Its statewide cancer report says Iowa has the second-highest cancer incidence rate in the country, behind Kentucky, and is the only state with an increasing cancer rate. A 2023 report estimated 20,800 new invasive cancers and 6,200 cancer deaths in Iowa that year.

Against that backdrop, Buena Vista County’s low ranking is real news, but it is not an all-clear signal. The county’s numbers suggest that local prevention and screening efforts need to keep looking beyond averages, especially where male and Hispanic residents may not mirror the same trend as the county overall.