The disproportionately high incidence of lung and colorectal cancer among American Indian and Alaskan Native populations was a topic of conversation this week at the American Roentgen Ray Society’s annual meeting.

American Indians (AI) and Alaskan Natives (AN) are three times more likely to develop lung or colorectal cancer than other ethnic groups, according to a scientific e-poster shared at the 2022 ARRS meeting in New Orleans earlier this week. Reasons for these heightened rates, experts shared, can be attributed to income, education, transportation and living in rural areas.

“We recorded the distance to their closest lung, breast, and colorectal cancer screening center and ACR accreditation status, and if the closest location was in or out of state,” submitting author Miguel Pena, of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and co-authors explained.

To achieve this, Pena and colleagues used the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs website, along with the American College of Radiology’s ‘My Computed Tomography Colonography (CTC) Screening Location Finder,’ ‘Lung Cancer Screening (LCS) Locator Tool’ and the FDA’s ‘Mammography Certified Facilities Database.’ Experts searched for screening and cancer centers within a 200 mile radius of the tribes.