Cancer mortality rates, compiled by NCI using data from the National Center for Health Statistics, are reported for each of these groups except Korean and Vietnamese, for whom data are unavailable. Selected data from the report are reproduced below. SEER is a continuing project of NCI, responsible for monitoring the impact of cancer in the general population. In addition, data were provided by the Alaska Area Native Health Service for use in the monograph. This is necessary to enable the calculation of cancer rates for these smaller populations.
Men have higher overall cancer rates than women in all groups.
But in all groups, women ages 30 to 54 years have higher rates than men of the same age range, due to the high incidence of female breast and gynecologic cancers. Black men have the highest overall cancer incidence and mortality rates, largely due to excesses of prostate and lung cancers. Among women, cancer is most common in non-Hispanic whites, while the cancer death rate is highest in Alaska Natives. Breast cancer incidence ranks first in all groups of women except Vietnamese, who have a higher rate of cervical cancer. However, breast cancer incidence rates vary fourfold, from 28.5 per 100,000 Korean women to 115.7 per 100,000 non-Hispanic white women.