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 20% less likely to have breast cancer as white women, they are almost three times as likely to have stomach cancer.
Both Asian/Pacific Islander men and women have almost 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 2.7 times as likely to die from the same disease.

At a glance - New Cases:

**New Cancer Cases per 100,000 - Men (2008)**
Cancer	Asian/Pacific Islander Men	Non-Hispanic White Men	Asian/Pacific Islander/Non- Hispanic White Ratio
All Sites	352.9	540.4	0.7
Prostate	84.2	147.6	0.6
Stomach	15.5	8.1	1.9

**New Cancer Cases per 100,000 - Women (2008)**
Cancer	Asian/Pacific Islander Women	Non-Hispanic White Women	Asian/Pacific Islander/Non- Hispanic White Ratio
All Sites	314.3	437.2	0.7
Breast	104.1	134.8	0.8
Cervical	6.4	6.2	1.0
Stomach	9.9	3.6	2.8

Source: CDC, 2012. Health United States, 2011. Table 47.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus11.pdf [PDF | 9.8MB]

At a glance - Top Cancer Sites for Asian/Pacific Islander (2005-2009):

Cancer Incidence Rates per 100,000 - Men

Cancer

Asian/Pacific
Islander
Men

Non-HispanicWhite Men

Asian/Pacific Islander/Non-Hispanic White Ratio

All Sites

342.6

564.7

0.6

Liver & IBD*

22.1

8.8

2.5

Stomach

16.4

8.5

1.9

Prostate

85.4

150.6

0.6

**Cancer Incidence Rates per 100,000 - Women**
Cancer	Asian/Pacific Islander Women	Non-Hispanic White Women	Asian/Pacific Islander/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
All Sites	299.4	439.0	0.7
Liver & IBD*	8.5	2.9	2.9
Stomach	9.9	3.7	2.7
Breast	94.5	132.8	0.7
Cervical	7.2	7.1	1.0

*IBD = Intrahepatic Bile Duct
Source: NCI 2012. Seer Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2009. Tables 2.15 through 24.15
http://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2009_pops09/sections.html

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

At a glance - Death Rate:

**Cancer Death Rates per 100,000 - Men (2005-2009)**
Cancer	Asian/Pacific Islander Men	Non-Hispanic White Men	Asian/Pacific Islander/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
All Sites	132.6	221.9	0.6
Liver & IBD*	14.5	6.6	2.2
Stomach	9.0	4.0	2.3
Prostate	10.0	21.9	0.5

**Cancer Death Rates per 100,000 - Women (2005-2009)**
Cancer	Asian/Pacific Islander Women	Non-Hispanic White Women	Asian/Pacific Islander/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
All Sites	93.2	154.7	0.6
Cervical	2.0	2.1	1.0
Liver & IBD*	6.1	2.8	2.2
Stomach	5.3	2.0	2.7
Breast	11.9	23.0	0.5

*IBD = Intrahepatic Bile Duct
Source: NCI 2012. Seer Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2009. Table 1.20.
http://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2009_pops09/results_single/sect_01_table.20_2pgs.pdf [PDF | 24KB]

At a Glance - Screening:

Breast Cancer

**Percent of women age 40 and over who had a mammogram within the past 2 years, 2010 (crude)**
Asian American Women	Non-Hispanic White Women	Asian American/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
62.4	67.8	0.9

Source: CDC, 2012. Health United States, 2011. Table 90.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus11.pdf [PDF | 9.8MB]

Cervical Cancer

**Percent of women age 18 and over who had a Pap smear within the past 3 years, 2010 (crude)**
Asian American Women	Non-Hispanic White Women	Asian American/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
68.0	72.8	0.9

Source: CDC, 2012. Health United States, 2011. Table 91.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus11.pdf [PDF | 9.8MB]

Colon Cancer

**Adults age 50 and over who reported they ever had a colonoscopy, sigmoidoscopy, or proctoscopy, United States, 2008**
Asian American	Non-Hispanic White	Asian American/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
48.1	58.4	0.8

Source: 2011 National Healthcare Disparities Report. Table 1_3_2.2a & 1_3_2.2b.
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/qrdr11/index.html

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Content Last Modified: 6/15/2012 11:44:00 AM

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