Abstract

ABSTRACT-Mapping of the geographic distribution of renal cancer mortality for groupings of U.S. counties revealed cluster-Ing of elevated rates among white males and females In the upper north-central part of the country. Throughout the United States, mortality Increased with urbanization for mal.. only, whereas rates for both sexes showed positive correlations with socioeconomic status. The major correlate of the cancer rates was ethnlclty. Mortality was elevated In counties with high percentages of residents of German, Scandinavian, and es-pecially Russian descent. Ethnic susceptibility appears to ac-count, at least partly, for the regional clustering of kidney cancer and may provide leads to environmental determlnants.-JNCI 63: 363-366, 1979. About 7,000 deaths in the United States are at-tributed each year to renal cancer, most of which are adenocarcinomas; yet little is known about the origins of this tumor (1-3). Clues were sought through an examination of the geographic distribution of this cancer across the country.