UI Professor Mary Charlton sits with KCCI’s Suzanne Behnke to talk about where Iowans can find accurate information about the state’s cancer rates and address questions Iowans are bringing to the Cancer in Iowa: 99 counties tour.

Related: What to know about Iowa’s childhood cancer rates

Iowa’s rates of pediatric cancers follow national trends, says Mary Charlton, the director of the Iowa Cancer Registry. “You could argue that any number of cases of cancers is too much in this population, so I’m not just dismissing the devastation of what that’s like, for a pediatric cancer diagnosis. However, we are fortunate in Iowa that we do not have a higher rate of pediatric or adolescent cancer.”

Related: The facts on Iowa’s cancer ranking in the US

In 2023, Iowans learned the state is second in the nation for new cancer cases after cases began rising in 2013. Researchers continue to look at Iowa’s top forms of cancer and what’s behind it, and in August, a report will go to the state from the team leading the Key Drivers of Cancer in Iowa Project.