Cancer among Hispanic women in South Florida: an 18-year assessment: a report from the Florida Cancer Data System.
BACKGROUND
The Hispanic population now represents the majority of residents in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The authors present cancer incidence and mortality data for South Florida's Hispanic women for the period 1990-1998 and compare these data to previously reported data from 1981-1989. Cancer incidence, risk, and mortality data should reflect current population distribution, lifestyle, and environmental risk factors so that cancer prevention and control activities are informed optimally.


METHODS
The study population consisted of all women with malignant disease during 1981-1998 from Miami-Dade County found in the Florida Cancer Data System data base; patients were divided into 2 9-year periods for analysis. Age-standardized incidence and mortality rates were computed for common disease sites; rates for Hispanic women were compared with the rates for non-Hispanic white (NHW) women as standardized rate ratios (SRR) with 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs). Incidence and mortality trends were analyzed using linear regression.


RESULTS
Over 70,000 cancer incidents were analyzed. The overall decreased cancer risk for Hispanic women (SRR, 0.65; 95%CI, 0.64-0.67), compared with NHW women, remained essentially constant over the two study periods. Cancer incidence increased similarly for the two racial-ethnic groups. The incidence of lung carcinoma increased in both groups, becoming the second most common disease site for NHW women and the third most common disease site for Hispanic women.


CONCLUSIONS
The decreased relative cancer risk for Hispanic women in South Florida has remained stable over the past 18 years. Lung carcinoma is increasing among women in both racial-ethnic groups.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005431:Florida / Q000453:epidemiology; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008019:Life Style; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000401:mortality; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors