Demographic and Geographic Variations in Breast Cancer Mortality among U.S. Hispanics

Abstract

This paper examines demographic and geographic differences in breast cancer mortality (1999 to 2009) between U.S. Hispanic and non-Hispanic women from different racial groups. Data were publically available from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Four racial groups are included: American Indian/Alaska Natives, Asian/Pacific Islanders, Blacks/African Americans, and Whites. Age-adjusted rates were obtained for women ages 35-64 and 65 years and older. Hispanic mortality was generally lower than non-Hispanic mortality regardless of age, race, Census Region, State, or county. The lone exception was Hispanic Asian/Pacific Islanders residing in Hawaii. Despite generally lower rates, there was considerable variation in Hispanic breast cancer mortality within the country. Poverty, percentage of renters, and educational attainment were important explanatory factors. Analytic epidemiologic studies might explain social, cultural, and other reasons for the observed geographic variations. Such studies, in turn, could support a stronger theoretical basis for public health policy.

Breast Cancer Among Special Populations: Disparities in Care Across the Cancer Control Continuum

“…Similarly, among Asian/Pacifi c Islander women, the risk of ER/PR positive tumors is higher among Korean women vs. Hawaiian women (Li et al 2002 ). Both Hispanic and American Indian/Alaskan Native women have larger tumors and more advanced disease at diagnosis (Mejia de Grubb et al 2013 ;Von Friederichs-Fitzwater et al 2010 ).…”

“…Moreover, rural African-American women are diagnosed at later stages compared to rural white and urban white and African-American women (Amey et al 1997 ). Asian women, on the other hand, are more likely to be diagnosed at Stage 1 compared to African-American women, American Indian/Alaskan Native, and Hispanic women; however, again within Asian subgroups there are disparities in not only stage of diagnosis, but age at diagnosis, and tumor grade (see Tables 4.3 ) (Li et al 2002 ;Mejia de Grubb et al 2013 ;Von Friederichs-Fitzwater et al 2010 ;Yi et al 2012 ).…”

Geographic distribution of breast cancer incidence in Iran

“…The difference in incidence rates among various geographical regions was pointed out in several studies (de Grubb et al, 2013;Reynolds et al, 2005 Industrialization, social and economic status is also brought into account as risk factors of BC. With the rapid rate of industrialization of Nigeria, BC incidence rate among Nigerian has significantly increased over the past three decades (Alatise and Schrauzer, 2010).…”

Mammography Screening Among the Elderly: A Research Challenge

“…Hispanics were not included because Hispanic whites have substantially lower mortality than non-Hispanic whites, and the number of Hispanic blacks is small. 5 Algorithms developed by Smith-Bindman et al 6 and Fenton et al 7 were used to differentiate screening from diagnostic mammograms.…”