Explaining geographic variation in breast and cervical cancer incidence rates in US Hispanic women.
OBJECTIVE
This study examined geographic variation in incidence rates for two cancers common in US Hispanic women and considered some potential explanations, by using data from several high-quality cancer registries.


METHODS
Age-standardized incidence rates (ASIRs) per 100,000 Hispanic women per year were analyzed for breast and cervical cancer in the population-based cancer registries of the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program. The percentage potentially misclassified (PPM) as Hispanic, because of the frequent absence of maiden name, was estimated. Sociodemographic characteristics of the cancers and of the Hispanic population in eight areas were compared.


RESULTS
The ASIRs varied from 80.9 to 113.3 for breast and 8.2 to 19.9 for cervix cancers. The PPM was higher for breast (16%) than for cervix (7%). Differences in PPM across SEER areas did not appear consistent with geographic variation in ASIRs, while some variation in ASIRs was consistent with differences in sociodemographic characteristics. Registry data on subgroups (defined by ancestry and birthplace) were too incomplete for analyses of


CONCLUSIONS
Some of the geographic variation appeared to be explained by sociodemographic factors, but improvements in cancer registries are needed to analyze ASIRs for Hispanic subgroups.
Polednak
Anthony P
AP
Connecticut Tumor Registry, Connecticut Department of Public Health, Hartford, CT 06134-0308, USA. anthony.polednak@po.state.ct.us
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008875:Middle Aged; D012042:Registries / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018426:SEER Program / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology*