Cancer mortality rates among US and foreign-born individuals: United States 2005–2014

Publication date: Available online 18 June 2019Source: Preventive MedicineAuthor(s): Benjamin D. Hallowell, Meheret Endeshaw, Matthew T. McKenna, Virginia Senkomago, Hilda Razzaghi, Mona SaraiyaAbstractFrom 1970 to 2010 the foreign-born population in the United States has rapidly increased from 9.6 to 40.0 million individuals. Historically, differences in cancer rates have been observed between US-born and foreign-born individuals. However, comprehensive and up-to-date data on US cancer rates by birth place is lacking. To compare cancer mortality rates among foreign and US-born individuals, population-based cancer mortality data were obtained from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics. Utilizing data recorded on death certificates, individuals were categorized as US-born or foreign-born. Annual population estimates were obtained from the American Community Survey. Age-adjusted mortality rates and rate ratios (RRs) for all cancer sites were calculated using SEER*Stat. A total of 5,670,535 deaths from malignant cancers were recorded in the US from 2005 to 2014 and 9% of deaths occurred among foreign-born individuals. Overall, foreign-born individuals had a 31% lower cancer mortality rate when compared to US-born individuals (Rate Ratio (RR): 0.69 (95% CI: 0.68–0.69)), and similar results were observed when stratifying by sex, race/ethnicity, age, and geographic region. However, foreign-born individuals did have significantly elevated cancer mortality rates for seven...
Source: Preventive Medicine - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research