Lymphomas, which include Hodgkin's disease and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, are the fifth most common type of cancer diagnosed and the sixth most common death in the United States. Of the two basic lymphoma types, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is the more common.

The age-adjusted incidence rates for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma are higher among men than women in every racial/ethnic group except Koreans, in which there is a slight preponderance among women. In both men and women, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma incidence rates are highest among non-Hispanic whites (19.1 and 12.0 per 100,000 men and women, respectively) and lowest among Koreans (5.8 and 6.0 per 100,000). This corresponds to a high to low ratio of the rates (white non-Hispanic to Korean) of 3.3 for men, and 2.0 for women. Vietnamese men have the second highest rates (after whites), followed by white Hispanic, black, Filipino, Hawaiian, Chinese and Japanese men. There were too few cases diagnosed in Alaska Native and American Indian (New Mexico) men to calculate reliable rates. Among women, white Hispanics accounted for the second highest rates, followed by Filipino, Japanese, black and Chinese women. There are insufficient numbers of lymphoma cases diagnosed in Alaska Native, American Indian (New Mexico), Hawaiian and Vietnamese women to estimate their rates reliably.

Age-adjusted mortality rates of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma are consistent with the incidence rates with one exception: the mortality rate for Hawaiian men (8.8 per 100,000) exceeds that of any other group, even though the corresponding incidence rate is considerably lower than that of white non-Hispanics. There are an insufficient number of deaths from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma among Hawaiian women to reliably assess the mortality rate for that group.

In every group, incidence rates increase with age, however the magnitude of this increase varies by racial/ethnic group. For example, from ages 30-54 years to ages 70 years and older, the incidence of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma increases about five-fold among white non-Hispanic men, but 11-fold among Filipino men. Among women, the comparable rates increase eight-fold among white non-Hispanics, but 16-fold among Filipinos. These differences reflect high incidence rates among older Filipinos, similar to those of white non-Hispanics. These high rates are not reflected, however, in the mortality data for Filipinos. Among those aged 30-54 years rates among black men and women are close to those among white non-Hispanics. Rates among black men and women aged 70 years and older, however, are only about one-half those of white non-Hispanics.

Source: Miller BA, Kolonel LN, Bernstein L, Young, Jr. JL, Swanson GM, West D, Key CR, Liff JM, Glover CS, Alexander GA, et al. (eds). Racial/Ethnic Patterns of Cancer in the United States 1988-1992, National Cancer Institute. NIH Pub. No. 96-4104. Bethesda, MD, 1996.

Graphs showing incidence and mortality for specific racial and ethnic groups including information that may not be discussed in the text above, is available at the NCI's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Web site at: http://seer.cancer.gov/.

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