Cancer and Asians/Pacific Islanders

Asian Americans generally have lower cancer rates than the non-Hispanic white population. However, disparities still exist in certain types of cancer.

Asian/Pacific Islander men are 40% less likely to have prostate cancer as white men, but they are twice as likely to have stomach cancer.
Although Asian/Pacific Islander women are 30% less likely to have breast cancer as white women, they are 2.7 times as likely to have stomach cancer.
Both Asian/Pacific Islander men and women have three times the incidence of liver & IBD cancer as the non-Hispanic white population.
Asian/Pacific Islander men are twice as likely to die from stomach cancer as compared to the non-Hispanic white population, and Asian/Pacific Islander women are 2.6 times as likely to die from the same disease.
Cancer data is limited for this population.

At a glance – New Cases:

**New Cancer Cases per 100,000 – Men (2004)**
Cancer	All Men	Asian/Pacific Islander Men	Non-Hispanic White Men	Asian/Pacific Islander/Non- Hispanic White Ratio
All Sites	523.0	360.5	548.1	0.7
Prostate	159.3	96.0	158.4	0.6
Stomach	11.5	19.1	9.1	2.1

**New Cancer Cases per 100,000 – Women (2004)**
Cancer	All Women	Asian/Pacific Islander Women	Non-Hispanic White Women	Asian/Pacific Islander/Non- Hispanic White Ratio
All Sites	394.1	291.7	426.7	0.7
Breast	121.0	92.5	132.7	0.7
Cervical	7.7	6.8	6.5	1.0
Stomach	5.8	10.6	4.0	2.7

Source: CDC, 2007. Health United States, 2007. Table 53.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus07.pdf

At a glance – Top Cancer Sites for Asian/Pacific Islander
(2001-2005):

Cancer Incidence Rates per 100,000 – Men

Cancer

All Men

Asian/Pacific
Islander
Men

Non-HispanicWhite Men

Asian/Pacific Islander/Non-Hispanic White Ratio

All Sites

549.3

354.0

568.3

0.6

Stomach

11.3

18.6

9.3

2.0

Liver & IBD*

9.9

21.7

7.3

3.0

**Cancer Incidence Rates per 100,000 – Women**
Cancer	All Women	Asian/Pacific Islander Women	Non-Hispanic White Women	Asian/Pacific Islander/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
All Sites	411.0	287.8	439.7	0.7
Stomach	5.5	10.5	4.0	2.6
Liver & IBD*	3.5	8.3	2.6	3.2
Thyroid	13.4	13.3	14.8	0.9

*IBD = Intrahepatic Bile Duct
Source: NCI 2008. Seer Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2005. Tables I-24 and I-25, to XXIV-10.
http://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2005

At a glance – 5 Year Survival Rate:
Not available at this time.

At a glance – Death Rate:

**Cancer Death Rates per 100,000 – Men (2001-2005)**
Cancer	Asian/Pacific Islander Men	Non-Hispanic White Men	Asian/Pacific Islander/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
All Sites	138.8	235.6	0.6
Stomach	10.1	4.7	2.1
Liver & IBD*	15.2	6.3	2.4

**Cancer Death Rates per 100,000 – Women (2001-2005)**
Cancer	Asian/Pacific Islander Women	Non-Hispanic White Women	Asian/Pacific Islander/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
All Sites	95.9	163.0	0.6
Stomach	5.9	2.3	2.6
Cervical	2.2	2.2	1.0
Liver & IBD*	6.6	2.7	2.4

*IBD = Intrahepatic Bile Duct
Source: NCI 2008. Seer Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2005. Table I-20.
http://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2005

At a Glance – Screening:

Breast Cancer

**Percent of women age 40 and over who had a mammogram within the past 2 years, 2005 (age-adjusted)**
Asian American Women	Non-Hispanic White Women	Asian American/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
54.0	68.2	0.8

Source: 2007 National Healthcare Disparities Report. Tables 1A_a and 1A_b.
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhdr07/index.html

Cervcal Cancer

**Percent of women age 18 and over who had a Pap smear within the past 3 years, 2005 (age-adjusted)**
Asian American Women	Non-Hispanic White Women	Asian American/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
63.9	79.1	0.8

Source: 2007 National Healthcare Disparities Report. Tables 3a and 3b.
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhdr07/index.html

Colon Cancer

**Percent of men and women age 50 and over who report they ever received a colonoscopy, 2005 (age-adjusted)**
Asian American	Non-Hispanic White	Asian American/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
34.2	52.9	0.6

Source: 2007 National Healthcare Disparities Report. Table 1.6a.
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhdr07/index.html

**Percent of men and women age 50 and over who report they had a fecal occult blood test within the past 2 years, 2005 (age-adjusted)**
Asian American	Non-Hispanic White	Asian American/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
12.9	17.9	0.7

Source: 2007 National Healthcare Disparities Report. Tables 7a and 7b.
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhdr07/index.html

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Content Last Modified: 8/4/2008 3:46:00 PM