Abstract 3596: Globally, minorities are at increased risk for lung cancer

Abstract

Abstract Purpose of Study: To determine whether identifiable minority populations in countries of the six regions of the world experience higher incidence rates of lung cancer than do the members of the majority population of those countries. Experimental procedures: The WHO website has codified the world's continents into six regions including Africa, Americas, South East Asia, Europe, The Eastern Mediterranean and the Western Pacific. This definition of world regions was used for this study. Data were available from five of the six regions. Countries were ordered in each region according to population density. In each region, at a minimum, the 10 most densely populated countries were included. A minority population group was defined as a numerically smaller proportion of a population differing from the majority by a specific identifiable characteristic. Minority and majority populations were defined according to the CIA world fact book and the minority rights group international. Each country was evaluated separately for incidence rates of lung cancer within both minority and majority populations. Codified study data were included for a country only if the data met the following specific criteria: (1) the data had to be presented in its original form using a case-control or cohort methodology; (2) lung cancer incidences had to be reported as an outcome. Data were only included for analysis if it were published as a case-control or cohort study with appropriate references in a peer-reviewed journal. No data from non -peer reviewed articles were considered. Results: Table 1: Lung cancer incidence rates in minority and majority populations from countries included in the top ten of the most densely populated of five world regions. Conclusions: Globally, minority populations experience much higher incidence rates for lung cancer within a country than do the majority population. We hypothesize that this is due to marginalization of these minority groups which may lead to increased smoking in the minority group members as a coping mechanism. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3596. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-3596