Cancer incidence among Asian American populations in the United States, 2009-2011

Abstract

Cancer incidence disparities exist among specific Asian American populations. However, the existing reports exclude data from large metropoles like Chicago, Houston and New York. Moreover, incidence rates by subgroup have been underestimated due to the exclusion of Asians with unknown subgroup. Cancer incidence data for 2009 to 2011 for eight states accounting for 68% of the Asian American population were analyzed. Race for cases with unknown subgroup was imputed using stratified proportion models by sex, age, cancer site and geographic regions. Age-standardized incidence rates were calculated for 17 cancer sites for the six largest Asian subgroups. Our analysis comprised 90,709 Asian and 1,327,727 non-Hispanic white cancer cases. Asian Americans had significantly lower overall cancer incidence rates than non-Hispanic whites (336.5 per 100,000 and 541.9 for men, 299.6 and 449.3 for women, respectively). Among specific Asian subgroups, Filipino men (377.4) and Japanese women (342.7) had the highest overall incidence rates while South Asian men (297.7) and Korean women (275.9) had the lowest. In comparison to non-Hispanic whites and other Asian subgroups, significantly higher risks were observed for colorectal cancer among Japanese, stomach cancer among Koreans, nasopharyngeal cancer among Chinese, thyroid cancer among Filipinos, and liver cancer among Vietnamese. South Asians had remarkably low lung cancer risk. Overall, Asian Americans have a lower cancer risk than non-Hispanic whites, except for nasopharyngeal, liver and stomach cancers. The unique portrayal of cancer incidence patterns among specific Asian subgroups in this study provides a new baseline for future cancer surveillance research and health policy.

Integrative Comparison of mRNA Expression Patterns in Breast Cancers from Caucasian and Asian Americans with Implications for Precision Medicine

“…For example, age-standardized breast cancer incidence and mortality rates for Asian American (AS) are 30% and 50% lower, respectively, than those in non-Hispanic whites (1). Various aspects of this health disparity have been studied in the past with qualitatively similar observations (6-8). Asian American are the fastest-growing racial/ethnic group in the US, representing 6.3% of the population (20.0 million/318.7 million) in 2014 (9).…”

Colorectal cancer screening prevalence and predictors among Asian American subgroups using Medical Expenditure Panel Survey National Data

“…6 CRC is the second and third most diagnosed cancer for AA women and men, respectively. 7,8 When AA subgroups are disaggregated, cancer incidence among the AA subgroups varies. Among all ethnicities in the United States, CRC incidence is highest among Japanese American men (62.2%), and this incidence is also 25% higher than that of white men.…”

Examining the gastric cancer survival gap between Asians and whites in the United States

“…Compared to non-Hispanic whites (NHWs), Asian Americans, as a whole, have higher gastric cancer incidence, but also have better survival outcomes [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. Previous research, while not conclusive, has linked the survival advantage of Asian Americans to tumors at a more distal anatomic site, diagnosis at earlier tumor stages, diagnosis at younger ages, and more aggressive treatment approaches [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18].…”