Friday, September 27, 2013

Cancer especially liver cancer is one of the biggest killer of Hispanic Texans

More Hispanic Texans die from cancer than any other cause, according to a new report by a Texas research group. The report documents cancer as the leading cause of death among Hispanic Texans under the age of 76. Only three percent of Hispanic Texans are older than 75.

Texas’s Hispanic population has more than doubled since 1990. Texans of Hispanic ethnicity now comprise 38 percent of the state’s population. The findings are published in a September 2013 special issue of the Texas Public Health Journal.

Based on data from the Texas Cancer Registry, Medicare claims records and state vital statistics, researchers compared rates and trends for cancer in Hispanics to those for non-Hispanic whites in Texas. Key findings include:

  • Hispanic Texans are less likely to be screened for breast or colon cancer.
  • Hispanics have lower rates of new cancer diagnoses for breast, colon and lung cancer.
  • Of the cancers diagnosed in Hispanics, fewer were in the earliest, most treatable stages – those typically detected through screening. Breast cancer at the most advanced stage was diagnosed at a 12 percent higher rate.
  • Cancers more common among Hispanics were stomach and liver cancer in men and stomach, liver and cervical cancer in women. Such cancers can arise from untreated infections.
  • Overall mortality from all cancer was lower among Hispanics with the exception of stomach and liver cancer.
  • Survival after a diagnosis of cancer is superior for Hispanics compared to non-Hispanic whites. 

These findings were based on 10 years of data about the diagnoses of new cancer cases and 21 years of data about cancer deaths. It was also found that foreign-born Hispanics had lower mortality rates than those born in the United States, according to analyses of regional differences within the state.

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