Abstract 1772: Cancer prevalence and screening among US Asian adults by nativity
Authors: Clarke Tainya C. 
Published: July 2016

Background: While heart disease is the leading cause of death in the general United States (US) population, the number one cause of death among US Asian adults is cancer. The cancer burden in the US is higher than that in Asia. However as Asians migrate to the US, acculturation may increase their risk of acquiring cancers. We examine the prevalence of selected cancers and recommended screening behaviors among Asian Americans by US nativity.

Methods: We analyzed combined data from the 2010 and 2013 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to examine the prevalence of selected cancers and adherence to the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommended screening behaviors by US nativity among more than 4,000 non-Hispanic Asian adults aged 18 and over. Asian adults include persons who identified their race as “Asian,” “Asian Indian,” “Chinese,” “Filipino,” “Korean,” “Japanese,” “Vietnamese,” or other detailed Asian responses, identified no other non-Asian races, and now reside in the US. Nativity was determined by place of birth located within or outside the US or its territories. Survey data were weighted to produce national estimates that are representative of the civilian noninstitutionalized US adult population. Differences between percentages were evaluated using two-sided significance tests at the 0.05 level.

Results: While the overall prevalence of cancer among Asian adults (3.1%) was not significantly different from that of their non-Hispanic white adult peers (3.4%), US born Asian adults were approximately 1.7 times more likely to have had a cancer diagnosis compared with Asian adults born outside the US. Nativity was not significantly related to cancer diagnosis for non-Hispanic white adults. There was no significant difference by US nativity in the prevalence of colorectal cancer among Asian adults aged 50-75 or breast cancer among Asian women aged 40-75. However, US born Asian women aged 21-65 without a hysterectomy were more than 5 times as likely to have a diagnosis of cervical cancer as their peers who were born outside the US. There was no significant difference in adherence to the USPSTF recommended mammography or colorectal screening among US born Asian adults within the recommended screening age groups compared with those born outside the US. However, US born Asian women were more likely to adhere to the USPSTF recommended screening for cervical cancer compared with those born outside the US (79.0% vs. 70.0%).

Conclusion: The higher prevalence of cancer among US Asian adults compared with those not born in the US appears to be driven by differences in cervical cancer prevalence. Although higher than their peers born outside the US, adherence to USPSTF recommended cervical screening among US born Asian women aged 21-65 remains lower than the Healthy People 2020 baseline of 84.5%.

Citation Format: Tainya C. Clarke. Cancer prevalence and screening among US Asian adults by nativity. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 1772.