Common Cancers Found Later In Latinos

(Kingston) - There’s good news and bad news in the fight against cancer for the nation's fastest growing population. According to a new report from leading cancer organizations, including the American Cancer Society, cancer rates are lower in U.S. Latinos than for non-Hispanic whites. However, Latinos are less likely to have some of the most common forms of cancer (including breast, colon, prostate and cervical) diagnosed when the disease is in its earliest, most treatable, stages.
The new “Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975-2003,” published in the an issue of the scientific journal Cancer, offers the most comprehensive coverage of cancer information for this large and rapidly growing ethnic group and is based on 90 percent of the U.S. Latino population.
The report also finds higher rates for Latinos in cancers with infectious origins including human papilloma virus (HPV) in cervical cancer, Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) in stomach cancer and Hepatitis B (HBV) and Hepatitis C (HCV) in liver cancer.
“The fact that overall cancer rates are lower in the Latino population is very encouraging,” said Arianna Lendino of the American Cancer Society. “But, clearly, more needs to be done to encourage early detection and increase awareness. We’re making great strides in the fight against cancer and it is paramount that the county’s fastest growing population not be left behind.”
The report points to several important possibilities on why disparities exist between Latinos and non-Hispanic whites including: elevated exposures to environmental risk factors in Latino’ living and work places; lower education, health literacy, and income; limited English proficiency; reduced use of screening services; limited access to health care, often due to lack of insurance; and less information available regarding possible genetic predisposition to cancer. The American Cancer Society has made fighting cancer in Hispanic and Latino communities a priority. Besides participating in the “Annual Report to the Nation” the organization is currently dedicating more than $41 million in research to studying cancer in underserved populations. Also, the Society offers free cancer information in Spanish on both its Cancer Information Hotline at 1-800-ACS-2345 and on its web site at www.cancer.org. The health organization also facilitates a variety of local patient service and outreach programs including working with local Healthy Living Partnerships providing free cancer screenings, and the highly successful Mi Vida effort that encourages early detection testing for breast, cervical and colon cancer. Additionally, in previous months thousands of American Cancer Society volunteers will rally at the nation’s Capitol in Washington D.C. at the “Celebration on the Hill” calling for, among other things, an increase in federal funding for breast and cervical cancer screening services for the uninsured.
First issued in 1998, the “Annual Report to the Nation” is a collaboration among the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), which is part of the National Institutes of Health, the American Cancer Society (ACS), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It provides updated information on cancer rates and trends in the United States. This year’s report features a special section on the burden of cancer in U.S. Latino populations.
For more information on this report or for free cancer information in English or in Spanish, 24 hours a day, call your American Cancer Society at 1-800-ACS-2345 or visit www.cancer.org.