Annual Cancer Incidence Rates for Hispanics in the United States: Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results, 1992-1996

Background: The expansion of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program and the determination of annual population estimates by county level for different racial/ethnic groups since 1990 allow the calculation of annual cancer incidence rates for Hispanics.

Methods: Incidence rates were calculated for 11 SEER areas representing 25% of the Hispanic population. Standard regression analyses of log-transformed rates were used to determine the trends of the rates.

Results: An important measure of the cancer burden among Hispanics is the rank order of their cancers. For Hispanic males, the five major cancers (in declining order) are prostate, lung and bronchus, colon/rectum, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and stomach cancers. For Hispanic females, the top five cancers are breast, colon/rectum, lung and bronchus, cervix, and endometrial cancers. Another measure of cancer burden is their rates relative to white non-Hispanics. Hispanic males have rates greater than white non-Hispanic males for stomach (1.6 times greater) and liver and IBD cancers (2.2), whereas Hispanic females have greater rates for cervix (2.2 times greater), liver and IBD (2.0), stomach (2.1), and gallbladder cancers (3.3). Other measures of cancer burden include the trends in Hispanic rates. Hispanic males have significant declining trends for all sites, prostate cancer, and urinary bladder cancer, and an increasing trend for liver and IBD cancers. Hispanic females have significant declining trends for cervix and urinary bladder cancers.

Conclusions: The SEER cancer incidence rates and trends provide a general overview of the cancer burden among Hispanics residing in the SEER sites. This type of information is critical for determining interventions to reduce the cancer burden among Hispanics in the United States.