Cancer profile of migrants from the Former Soviet Union in Germany: incidence and mortality

Abstract

This study compares cancer mortality and incidence of ethnic German migrants from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) in Germany. Data were obtained from two migrant cohorts residing in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) (n = 34,393) and Saarland (n = 18,619). Vital status of the NRW cohort was ascertained through local population registries. Causes of death were obtained from the NRW statistical office or from local health offices. Cancer incidence of the Saarland cohort was derived from the Saarland cancer registry using record linkage. From 1990 to 2005, we observed 708 cancer deaths and 586 incident cancer cases. In males, both cancer incidence and cancer mortality were similar to the German population. Female cancer incidence and mortality were lower, the latter significantly. Site-specific standardized mortality and incidence ratios showed great variation in comparison to Germans and were remarkably similar to each other for most sites. Lung cancer was elevated among males, but lower among females. Stomach cancer was higher contrasting with lower ratios for prostate cancer, male colorectal cancer, and female breast cancer. Results confirm that FSU-migrants suffer from cancers, which may be prevented by prevention programs. Furthermore, we cannot conclude a different health-seeking behavior compared to Germans.

Assessing the effect of regional deprivation on mortality avoiding compositional bias: a natural experiment

“…We based our analyses on data of the AMOR study (German: Aussiedler-MORtalitätsstudie), a retrospective cohort study on the mortality of resettlers 17 18. The cohort comprises resettlers who moved from Former Soviet Union countries to NRW.…”

Estimating the standardized incidence ratio (SIR) with incomplete follow-up data

“…First, the same mortality as the German population within the cohort was taken. Results from a similar cohort show that this assumption may be reasonable [4]. A slight underestimate of the number of person-years is possible, though.…”

“…In the fifth section, we present data from a cohort study in which this situation occurred [4]. It is a study on immigrants from the Former Soviet Union in a German state (Saarland) where we calculated the SIR for cancer, based on linkage with the Saarland cancer registry.…”

Epidemiology of Prostate Cancer: The Case of Ethnic German Migrants from the Former Soviet Union

“…Methodological aspects of the cohorts and the statistical analysis have been discussed in detail elsewhere, they have been shown to be representative samples of the Aussiedler. representative (Klug et al, 2003;Ronellenfitsch et al, 2004;Becher et al, 2007;Winkler et al, 2009). In brief, both cohort studies have the pros and cons of historical cohort studies.…”