Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Public Health Reports logoLink to Public Health Reports
. 1988 Mar-Apr;103(2):195–201.

Cancer mortality among Mexican immigrants in the United States.

I Rosenwaike 1
PMCID: PMC1477965  PMID: 3128838

Abstract

In 1980 there were more than 2 million Mexican-born immigrants living in the United States. Mortality statistics for 1979-81 indicate that the standardized mortality ratio for cancer among Mexican immigrants is 72 percent of that among all white males and 77 percent of that among all white females. The age-adjusted death rates of the Mexican-born population for cancers of the lung, colon, rectum, bladder, and breast are significantly lower: less than 60 percent of those for the entire U.S. white population. Excessive levels of cancers of the stomach, liver, and cervix occur among Mexican-born U.S. residents; age-adjusted rates for these sites exceed the rates among the total U.S. white population by more than 75 percent. These data, based on U.S. diagnostic practices, confirm that broad differences--twofold, for some cancer sites--exist between the cancer rates among immigrants from Mexico and other whites in the United States. The close correspondence between the mortality data presented in this study and comparable incidence data from another study indicates that differential survival does not explain the differences in cancer mortality among Mexican immigrants.

Full text

PDF
195

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. BUECHLEY R., DUNN J. E., Jr, LINDEN G., BRESLOW L. Excess lung-cancer-mortality rates among Mexican women in California. Cancer. 1957 Jan-Feb;10(1):63–66. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(195701/02)10:1<63::aid-cncr2820100108>3.0.co;2-n. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Buell P. E., Mendez W. M., Dunn J. E., Jr Cancer of the lung among Mexican immigrant women in California. Cancer. 1968 Jul;22(1):186–192. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(196807)22:1<186::aid-cncr2820220123>3.0.co;2-#. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Daly M. B., Clark G. M., McGuire W. L. Breast cancer prognosis in a mixed Caucasian-Hispanic population. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1985 Apr;74(4):753–757. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. HAENSZEL W. Cancer mortality among the foreign-born in the United States. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1961 Jan;26:37–132. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Holck S. E., Warren C. W., Rochat R. W., Smith J. C. Lung cancer mortality and smoking habits: Mexican-American women. Am J Public Health. 1982 Jan;72(1):38–42. doi: 10.2105/ajph.72.1.38. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Kestenbaum B. Mortality by nativity. Demography. 1986 Feb;23(1):87–90. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. King H., Li J. Y., Locke F. B., Pollack E. S., Tu J. T. Patterns of site-specific displacement in cancer mortality among migrants: the Chinese in the United States. Am J Public Health. 1985 Mar;75(3):237–242. doi: 10.2105/ajph.75.3.237. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Lee E. S., Roberts R. E., Labarthe D. R. Excess and deficit lung cancer mortality in three ethnic groups in Texas. Cancer. 1976 Dec;38(6):2551–2556. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(197612)38:6<2551::aid-cncr2820380645>3.0.co;2-e. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. MacMahon B., Cole P., Brown J. Etiology of human breast cancer: a review. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1973 Jan;50(1):21–42. doi: 10.1093/jnci/50.1.21. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Marcus A. C., Crane L. A. Smoking behavior among US Latinos: an emerging challenge for public health. Am J Public Health. 1985 Feb;75(2):169–172. doi: 10.2105/ajph.75.2.169. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Markides K. S., Coreil J. The health of Hispanics in the southwestern United States: an epidemiologic paradox. Public Health Rep. 1986 May-Jun;101(3):253–265. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Menck H. R., Henderson B. E., Pike M. C., Mack T., Martin S. P., SooHoo J. Cancer incidence in the Mexican-American. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1975 Sep;55(3):531–536. doi: 10.1093/jnci/55.3.531. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Pike M. C., Ross R. K. Breast cancer. Br Med Bull. 1984 Oct;40(4):351–354. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.bmb.a072003. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Rosenwaike I. Cancer mortality among Puerto Rican-born residents in New York City. Am J Epidemiol. 1984 Feb;119(2):177–185. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a113736. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Samet J. M., Key C. R., Kutvirt D. M., Wiggins C. L. Respiratory disease mortality in New Mexico's American Indians and Hispanics. Am J Public Health. 1980 May;70(5):492–497. doi: 10.2105/ajph.70.5.492. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Trevino F. M. Vital and heath statistics for the US hispanic population. Am J Public Health. 1982 Sep;72(9):979–982. doi: 10.2105/ajph.72.9.979. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Vernon S. W., Tilley B. C., Neale A. V., Steinfeldt L. Ethnicity, survival, and delay in seeking treatment for symptoms of breast cancer. Cancer. 1985 Apr 1;55(7):1563–1571. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(19850401)55:7<1563::aid-cncr2820550726>3.0.co;2-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Zunzunegui M. V., King M. C., Coria C. F., Charlet J. Male influences on cervical cancer risk. Am J Epidemiol. 1986 Feb;123(2):302–307. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a114238. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Public Health Reports are provided here courtesy of SAGE Publications

RESOURCES