Cancer Profiles of Two American Indian Tribes

Abstract

The relative distribution of primary cancers as well as incidence rates by type were found to be significantly different between the Oglala Sioux from the Northern Plains and the Tohono O'Odham from the Southwestern desert. The Oglala had higher mortality rates for lung, cervix, and breast cancer, and the Tohono O'Odham had higher mortality rates for gallbladder, breast, and stomach cancer compared to the mortality rates for the same cancers in the all-United States Indians. Multiple myeloma rates were increased for both tribes.Cancer rates among Indian peoples are usually reported by ethnic groups. For American Indians, these groups are usually combined, and rates are reported under the heading Indians. It appears that if regional tumor registries for Native Americans were to be developed, then distinctive patterns might be expected, proving that individual tribal cancer patterns may vary as much as observed patterns for other ethnic groups of European or Asian origin in the United States.

Introduction

“…The nation's cancer data registry, the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER), for example, exclude a number of tribal communities because they live in states that are not a part of the SEER data network. What is known about neoplasms and cancer risks for some of these native communities may have to be drawn from be few studies on speci c cancer sites or other tribes (Michalek & Mahoney, 1990;Mahoney & Michalek, 1991;Justice, 1988;Horner, 1990;Henderson, Kalonel, & Foster, 1984;Norstead & White, 1989).…”

“…This data source was used as the ''national'' benchmark for discussing cancer patterns for all American Indians and Alaska Natives (Samet & Goodwin, 1987). This practice of generalizations from a single data source has not been helpful, because recent data demonstrate that cancer patterns differ across tribes as well as across geographic regions (Cobb & Paisano, 1997;IHS, 1996;Justice, 1988;Nutting et al, 1993). Table 1 also illustrates the differences among the ve major cancer sites for the two groups of native women.…”