‘Startling’ disparities in cancer deaths for Native Hawaiians, other Pacific Islanders
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander individuals in the United States are two to three times more likely to die of certain cancers than white individuals, according to an American Cancer Society report.
The report — Cancer Facts and Figures for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander People, 2024-2026 — revealed this trend for what the authors characterized as “largely preventable” malignancies, such as cervical, stomach and liver cancers.
“Although disaggregated data are still extremely limited, we hope that these startling disparities will spur local communities and health care providers to increase awareness of cancer symptoms and opportunities for cancer prevention and early detection through screening,” Rebecca Siegel, MPH, senior scientific director for surveillance research at American Cancer Society and the report’s senior author, said in a press release.
Cancer is the second-leading cause of death in the United States, behind heart disease.
However, cancer is the leading cause of death among Chinese, Filipino, Korean and Vietnamese individuals. In addition, lung cancer is the most common cause of death among men in every Asian American, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander ethnic group.
There are “multifactorial” explanations for the variations in cancer burden among Asian American and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander individuals, according to Nikita Sandeep Wagle, PhD, MBBS, MHA, principal scientist for cancer surveillance research at American Cancer Society.
“These populations — specifically Asian Americans — consist of many ethnic groups that are diverse in terms of immigration patterns, behavior, exposures in countries of origin and social determinants of health,” Wagle said in the release. “Additionally, the use of screening and other preventative services varies between these groups.”
An estimated 24 million Asian American and 1.7 million Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander individuals — either single race or mixed race — lived in the United States in 2021, according to the cancer society. This accounted for approximately 8% of the population.
The report — based on analysis of data from NCI, CDC and North American Association of Central Cancer Registries — showed considerable variation in the cancer burden among ethnic groups.
For example:
- Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean and Native Hawaiian women, whereas breast cancer is the leading cause of death among Guamanian, Samoan, Filipino and Asian Indian women.
- About half of breast cancers among Guamanian, Samoan, Pakistani, Tongan, Laotian and Hmong women are diagnosed at an early stage, a rate considerably lower than for white women (about two-thirds) and Japanese women (about three-quarters). This discrepancy likely reflects challenges related to care access, according to the report’s authors.
- Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed among women of every Asian American and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander ethnic group.
- Prostate cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed among Asian American and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander men, with two exceptions: Lung cancer ranks first for Chinese, Vietnamese, Laotian and Chamorro/Guamanian men, and colorectal cancer is the most common among Korean, Hmong and Cambodian men.
- Five-year survival rates for breast cancer range from about 73% for Tongan, Chamorro/Guamanian and Samoan women to 94% for Japanese women, compared with 93% for white women.
- Five-year survival rates for colorectal cancer range from 48% among Cambodian individuals to 71% for Pakistani individuals, compared with 65% for white individuals.
- Asian Americans exhibited a 40% higher liver cancer mortality and a nearly double rate of stomach cancer mortality as white individuals, despite having a 40% lower cancer death rate overall.
The report authors emphasized the need for disaggregated data to allow for more targeted cancer prevention and early detection strategies in these rapidly growing populations.
“It’s essential that we acknowledge the diversity of the Asian American and [Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander] population,” Ahmedin Jemal, DVM, PhD, senior vice president for surveillance and health equity science at the cancer society, said in the release.
“Consideration of cultural appropriateness, translation into native languages, improved access to health care and patient navigation could help increase knowledge and uptake of cancer screening and preventive services,” Jemal added. “Further research is also needed among the ethnic groups of this highly diverse population to better understand the cancer burden and help save lives.”
References:
American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts and Figures for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Other Pacific Islander People, 2024-2026. Available at: https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/cancer-org/research/cancer-facts-and-statistics/aanhpi-cancer-facts-and-figures/aanhpi-cff.pdf. Published May 1, 2024. Accessed May 1, 2024.
ACS inaugural report shows mortality for preventable cancers among Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders in U.S. is 2-3 times as high as white people (press release). Available at https://pressroom.cancer.org/releases?item=1319. Published May 1, 2024. Accessed May 1, 2024.
Collapse
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts