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Moving to the U.S. increases Cancer Risk for
Hispanics
Newswise — Results of a new study confirm
trends that different Hispanic population
groups have higher incidence rates of
certain cancers and worse cancer outcomes if
they live in the United States, than they do
if they live in their homelands.
“Hispanics are not all the same with regard
to their cancer experience,” said Paulo S.
Pinheiro, M.D., Ph.D., M.Sc., researcher in
the Department of Epidemiology at the
University of Miami Miller School of
Medicine.
“Targeted interventions for cancer
prevention and control should take into
account the specificity of each Hispanic
subgroup: Cubans, Puerto Ricans or
Mexicans,” added Pinheiro, who is the
study’s lead researcher. Pinheiro and
colleagues received support from the
Portuguese Foundation for Science and
Technology.
These results are published in Cancer
Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a
journal of the American Association for
Cancer Research.
Studies to date have classified all
Hispanics under the same umbrella, as a
single ethnic group, hiding the differences
between each population group.
“They are really heterogeneous from cultural
and socioeconomic perspectives and represent
several population groups,” said Amelie G.
Ramirez, Dr.P.H., director of the Institute
for Health Promotion Research, and
co-associate director of the Cancer
Prevention and Population Studies research
program at the Cancer Therapy & Research
Center at The University of Texas Health
Science Center at San Antonio.
The Hispanic population in the United States
is increasing according to Ramirez — nearly
one in every three people will be Hispanic
by 2050. Ramirez, who was not involved in
this research, said it is important to
conduct studies like this to better
understand these differences and learn what
predisposes different population groups to
certain types of cancer, in order to improve
health outcomes.
Pinheiro and colleagues evaluated the kinds
of cancers occurring in each Hispanic
population group and compared their risk
after moving to the United States.
They conducted the study in Florida, which
has a diverse Hispanic community composed of
Cubans, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Central and
South Americans.
The results indicated that these population
groups showed different patterns of cancer
once they moved to the United States;
Mexicans had the lowest rates of cancer
overall and Puerto Ricans had the highest
rates of cancer.
Cubans’ risk of cancer most closely
resembles that of non-Hispanic whites.
Similar to the U.S. non-Hispanic white
population, Cubans and Puerto Ricans seemed
to acquire higher risk for diet-related
cancers relatively quickly.
Furthermore, Cuban males had higher
incidence of tobacco-related cancers; Puerto
Rican men had high incidence of liver
cancer; and Mexican women had a higher
incidence of cervical cancer.
For all cancers combined, risk for most
cancers was higher (at least 40 percent)
among Hispanics living in the United States
compared with those who live in their
countries of origin.
Colorectal cancer risk among Cubans and
Mexicans who moved to the United States was
more than double that in Cuba and Mexico.
The same was said for lung cancer among
Mexican and Puerto Rican Floridian women
compared to those in Mexico or Puerto Rico.
“This suggests that changes in their
environment and lifestyles make them more
prone to develop cancer,” Pinheiro said.
“It is puzzling that the groups for which
integration in mainstream American society
is easier, including access to health care,
are also those with higher cancer rates even
after accounting for the increased detection
of certain cancers in the United States.”
These results present important
opportunities for United States and
international collaborations in the
prevention, treatment and research of
cancer.
While physicians may not have to change the
care they provide, Ramirez said they should
be more aware of the diversity and
differences in cancer prevalence among this
population.
“Don’t assume that all Hispanics are the
same,” Ramirez said.
“Physicians should probe Hispanic patients
more on their background and family history
to identify any problematic behaviors that
could contribute to health problems.”
Patients should become better informed of
some of the positive aspects of their
original lifestyles and should be strongly
discouraged from adopting unfavorable
lifestyles that may be more common in the
United States, such as unhealthy diets,
smoking and alcohol use, according to
Pinheiro and Ramirez.
Additional studies are warranted to assess
the variations in cancer risk according to
socio-economic status and length of time
spent in the United States within each
Hispanic population group, in order to
evaluate habits that may predispose them to
certain cancers.
More research should focus on these unique
populations in relation not only to cancer,
but to other diseases, according to the
researchers.
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