Summit Daily News recently published an article based on research in the Journal of the American Medical Association showing Summit County                                                                                                       with the lowest cancer rate in the nation FOR 30 YEARS. Are people moving away when they get cancer? No, they are treated in Vail, Denver                                                                                                      and now the St. Anthony Summit Medical Center.  Do we have fewer older people? No, there is a large percentage of retired residents.

The report shows stark differences in regional cancer death rates : detailed estimates for deaths from nearly 30 types of cancer in all 3,100 U.S. counties for over 35 years.From 1980 to 2014, the U.S. death rate per 100,000 people for all cancers combined dropped from about 240 to 192 — a 20 percent decline. More than 19 million Americans died from cancer during that time, the study found. Healthy lifestyle with low rates of obesity and smoking and increased physical activity contribute to low cancer rates in the mountains.

The picture was rosiest the Colorado ski country, where cancer deaths per 100,000 residents dropped by almost half, from 130 in 1980 to just 70 in 2014;