As for the geographic distribution of cases, Colonna said it represents the high numbers of veterans who live in the South, suggesting that more VA oncology resources may be needed there.
In an interview, Aditi Hazra, PhD, MPH, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, said the new analysis is “very valuable”: “Women are a growing proportion of the veterans who serve, and we need more data to understand the risk factors and incidents of disease in this population.” Hazra said the next step will be to control the data for risk factors and “tease out what is driving the rates in the VA.”
There is no study funding, and the authors have no disclosures. Dr. Hazra discloses that she works for the VA and has collaborated with one of the study authors.