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From: pgf@hou5h.UUCP (Paul Fox)
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: odd cancer incidence statistics
Message-ID: <293@hou5h.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 28-Sep-83 13:47:43 EDT
Article-I.D.: hou5h.293
Posted: Wed Sep 28 13:47:43 1983
Date-Received: Thu, 29-Sep-83 08:57:58 EDT
Organization: AT&T Information Systems Laboratories, Holmdel, NJ
Lines: 17

I was once told (or perhaps I read) a couple of strange "facts" about
cancer, and I was wondering if anyone out there could refute or 
substantiate them.  I don't even know where to start looking for the answers.
The first was that among the patients of mental hospitals, the recovery
rate from cancer is on the order of 100% (or at least very high).  The 
implication was, I suppose, that those patients were less worried about their
illness-- maybe cancer is partially psychosomatic?  The other statistic was
that there is a higher incidence rate of cancer among people whose last
names begin with the letter 'S'.  This may of course be a restatement of
the percentage of *all* people whose last names begin with 'S' (i.e. more
of the people who have cancer have last names that begin with 'S'...).

I was just curious about this stuff... makes for good trivia, even if you don't
understand any of the actual issues.
				Paul Fox, AT&T Information Systems Laboratories
					  Holmdel, NJ
					  ihnp4!hou5f!pgf