City Dwellers Risk Later Cancer Diagnosis

Chicago Public Radio reports:

A new study finds cancer patients from Chicago are more likely to get a late diagnosis than people from rural Illinois. More advanced cancer tends to be harder to treat.

Researchers say they first thought rural patients would be diagnosed later, since those people have farther to go to see a doctor. But University of Illinois professor Sarah McLafferty says they found just the opposite. Chicagoans have the highest risk for a late-stage diagnosis, then the suburbs, then smaller cities. Small-town patients had the least risk. McLafferty, a geography professor, says that was sort of baffling.

Great moments in Blue America.