Abstract A68: Cancer incidence among Arab Americans in California, Detroit, and New Jersey SEER registries, 2000.
Authors: Burkhart Rachel , Ruterbusch Julie , Soliman Amr , Meza Rafael , Hirko Kelly , Graff John , Schwartz Kendra 
Published: August 2014

Objective: Because Arab Americans (ArA) are not recognized as a distinct race/ethnicity group, it is difficult to determine cancer incidence in this growing population and how it may vary across different regions in the U.S. We calculated cancer incidence rates and 95% confidence intervals for the ArA populations in California, Detroit, MI, and New Jersey and compared rates in these regions to non-Hispanic, non-Arab White (NHNAW), Black, and Hispanic races/ethnicities.

Methods: Age-adjusted rates were calculated following the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) methodology. ArA numerator data (new cancers diagnosed in 2000) were obtained for each of the three sites by linking California, Detroit, and New Jersey SEER databases with an Arab surname database previously developed and validated. Numerator data for Black and Hispanic races/ethnicities were obtained using SEER*Stat frequency sessions. NHNAW numerator data were calculated by subtracting identified ArA cases from Non-Hispanic White (NHW) SEER*Stat frequencies for each age group. Population estimates (denominators) were extracted from Public-Use Microdata Samples (PUMS) from the U.S. 2000 decennial census. ArA populations were identified using a combined value of Arab/Chaldean ancestry, birthplace in an Arab League country, or Arabic/Syriac language spoken at home, in addition; those reporting Armenian ancestry were excluded from ArA population estimates. NHNAW denominators were calculated by taking the difference between NHW and ArA estimates for each age group. Rates and 95% confidence intervals were gender specific and limited to ages 20-74 years for all cancer sites combined and for any cancer site that had at least ArA 10 cases in 2 of the 3 regions.

Results: ArA males had similar rates across the 3 geographic areas and generally similar to NHNAW. ArA males all sites combined and lung incidence rates were generally lower than Black and higher than Hispanic rates. Prostate cancer incidence was significantly lower among ArA than Black incidence in all three geographic regions. ArA male bladder incidence was higher than Hispanic and/or Black in the three regions. ArA females also had similar rates across the 3 geographic areas and rates similar to NHNAW. In New Jersey, female all sites combined incidence was significantly higher among ArA than New Jersey Black and Hispanic rates; while in California ArA female all sites combined was higher than only Hispanic. In California, ArA female lung and breast incidence was higher than Hispanic. ArA thyroid cancer rates in California and Detroit were higher than Black rates.

Conclusion: We were able to estimate ArA cancer incidence in 3 geographic areas that together make up a large proportion of U.S. ArAs. Although ArA incidence rates in general were similar to NHNAW rates, we found significant differences between ArA and other races/ethnicities for several cancer sites including male lung, male bladder, and female breast, lung and thyroid. Due to the small ArA case numbers, the confidence intervals were large and may consequently mask true differences between this special population group and NHNAW. Our results call for the need to federally recognize ArA as a specified race/ethnicity in order to estimate cancer incidence and mortality in a method similar to other race/ethnicity groups.

Citation Format: Rachel Burkhart, Julie Ruterbusch, Amr Soliman, Rafael Meza, Kelly Hirko, John Graff, Kendra Schwartz. Cancer incidence among Arab Americans in California, Detroit, and New Jersey SEER registries, 2000. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Fifth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2012 Oct 27-30; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2012;21(10 Suppl):Abstract nr A68.