Newswise — A new report from the nation's leading cancer organizations finds that Americans' risk of dying from cancer continues to drop, while the rate of new cancers remains stable. Certain cancers are increasing, however: Lung cancer rates are up slightly in women; prostate cancer rates have climbed in men.
A special section of the report covers cancer among Hispanics/Latinos. The special section shows that Latinos in the United States are less likely than non-Hispanic whites to develop cancer overall, but are more likely to be diagnosed with advanced cancers. It also reveals that Latino children have higher rates of leukemia and certain other childhood cancers, and that cancers with infectious origins — including cervical, stomach and liver cancers — occur at higher rates in Latinos than in non-Hispanic whites. The findings point to an urgent need for education in the Latino community about ways to reduce cancer risk and keep rates low in this population.
The report will be published in the Oct. 15, 2006 of the journal Cancer. It is available online at http://www.interscience.wiley.com/cancer/report2006 .
UC Davis experts are available to comment on the following aspects of the report:
Impact of health disparities on Latino cancer risks
Regional efforts to address cancer disparities in Latinos
Childhood cancer in Latinos
Rising incidence of lung cancer in women
Trends in prostate cancer: incidence and mortality, ethnic disparities, prevention, early diagnosis, and treatment
IMPACT OF HEALTH DISPARITIES ON LATINO CANCER RISK
Access to cancer prevention and screening information and services, health literacy, English proficiency and exposure to environmental carcinogens at work and home are all factors that impact on cancer risk among Hispanics and Latinos in the United States.
Moon S. Chen, Jr., Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola and Marc Schenker are nationally recognized experts on issues related to health disparities in ethnic populations. Chen is professor of public health sciences and associate director for cancer disparities and research at UC Davis Cancer Center. Aguilar-Gaxiola is professor of internal medicine and director of the UC Davis Center for Reducing Health Disparities. Marc Schenker, professor and chair of public health sciences, has studied cancer-related environmental risk factors and cervical cancer screening rates among migrant farm workers. Aguilar-Gaxiola and Schenker speak Spanish.
IMPACT OF HEALTH DISPARITIES ON LATINO CANCER RISK REGIONAL EFFORTS TO ADDRESS CANCER DISPARITIES IN LATINOS
Joy Melnikow, professor of family and community medicine, is principal investigator of El Camino a La Salud ("The Road to Health" ). The project is a collaboration of community groups, state agencies and UC Davis to reduce disparities in morbidity and mortality from cancer among Latinos in three California counties: Sacramento, San Joaquin and Yolo.
Amerish Bera, assistant dean for medical education, coordinates a project that trains respected members of the Latina community to provide peer counseling about breast self-exams and mammography.
Melnikow speaks Spanish.
CHILDHOOD CANCER IN LATINOS
Theodore Zwerdling, professor and chief of pediatric hematology and oncology, and Douglas Taylor, assistant professor and director of the Pediatric Stem Cell Transplant Program, have cared for hundreds of Latino children with cancer. They can talk about the challenges such patients and their families face, discuss the possible reasons that rates of certain childhood cancers are increasing among Latinos and comment on responses to the trends.
Zwerdling and Taylor speak Spanish.
RISING INCIDENCE OF LUNG CANCER IN WOMEN
David Gandara, professor of hematology and oncology, director of the Thoracic Oncology Program and associate director for clinical research at UC Davis Cancer Center, was among the first lung cancer specialists to recognize the rising incidence of lung cancer among women in the United States, especially among younger women who have never smoked. Today, more than one-third of the lung cancer patients seen in the Thoracic Oncology Clinic at UC Davis Cancer Center have never smoked.
Gandara also serves as director of the Southwest Oncology Group's Lung Program, helping to shape clinical research nationally in lung cancer. He is working to identify genetic differences among lung cancer patients that will allow physicians to design more tailored and effective treatments.
He can talk about the possible reasons behind the increase in lung cancer among women and the implications for treatment and research.
TRENDS IN PROSTATE CANCER
Ralph deVere White, professor of urology, director of UC Davis Cancer Center and assistant dean for cancer programs, is among the nation's leading prostate cancer specialists. He can talk about the impact of PSA testing on prostate cancer incidence and mortality trends, the potential role of chemoprevention in managing early prostate cancer, and research into why prostate cancer mortality is higher in African-American men than in white men.
Jim Felton, a scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and co-leader of the UC Davis Cancer Center's Cancer Etiology, Prevention and Control Program, studies the role of diet in prostate cancer among African Americans. Felton's research suggests that heavy consumption of meats cooked at high temperatures may explain much of the increased prostate cancer risk faced by African-American men.
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