Higher incidence of head and neck cancers among Vietnamese American men in California.
BACKGROUND
Our aim was to determine the incidence rates of head and neck cancer in Vietnamese Californians compared with other Asian and non-Asian Californians.


METHODS
Age-adjusted incidence rates of head and neck cancer between 1988 and 2004 were computed for Vietnamese Californians compared with other racial/ethnic groups by time period, ethnicity, neighborhood-level socioeconomic status (SES), and sex using data from the population-based California Cancer Registry (CCR). Data by smoking and alcohol status were tabulated from the California Health Interview Survey.


RESULTS
Vietnamese men had a higher incidence rate of head and neck cancer than other Asian men. Specifically, the laryngeal cancer rate was significantly higher for Vietnamese men (6.5/100,000; 95% confidence interval [CI], 5.0-8.2) than all other Asian men (range, 2.6-3.8/100,000), except Korean men (5.1/100,000; 95% CI, 3.9-6.4). Both Vietnamese and Korean men had the highest percentage of current smokers. Neighborhood SES was inversely related to head and neck cancer rates among Vietnamese men and women.


CONCLUSIONS
The higher incidence rate of head and neck cancer in Vietnamese men may correspond to the higher smoking prevalence in this group. Individual-level data are needed to establish the link of tobacco, alcohol, and other risk factors with head and neck cancer in these patients.
Filion
Edith J
EJ
Department of Radiation Oncology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA.
McClure
Laura A
LA
Huang
Derek
D
Seng
Kosal
K
Kaplan
Michael J
MJ
Colevas
Alexander Dimitrios
AD
Gomez
Scarlett Lin
SL
Chang
Ellen T
ET
Le
Quynh-Thu
QT
D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology; D001213:Asian / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D012042:Registries; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D012923:Social Class; D014744:Vietnam / Q000208:ethnology