Cancer among Hispanic children in California, 1988-1994 - Comparison with non-Hispanic white children

BACKGROUND. There has been a perception that California Hispanic children h ave an unusually high cancer incidence rate, but to the authors' knowledge the only information regarding cancer rates in this population has been the tabular data published in reports issued by the California Department of H ealth Services. The California Cancer Registry has collected data regarding all cancers diagnosed in California since 1988. METHODS, Data regarding all invasive cancers diagnosed in California Hispan ic children age <15 years during the 7-year period 1988-1994 were analyzed. Cancers were grouped according to the International Classification for Chi ldhood Cancers. Age-adjusted and age specific incidence rates were compared with the corresponding incidence rates among non-Hispanic white children. RESULTS. Based on available demographic information, the overall incidence rate of cancer was approximately 7% lower among California children classif ied as Hispanic than among non-Hispanic white children. Hispanic children h ad higher incidence rates of lymphoid leukemia and gonadal germ cell tumors and a lower incidence rare of astrocytomas and carcinomas than non-Hispani c white children. CONCLUSIONS. These data do not confirm the perception that California Hispa nic children have an unusually high cancer incidence rate but there were no table differences between Hispanic and non-Hispanic white children with reg ard to the incidence rates of certain cancers. The perception may be due in part to the fact that childhood malignancies represented 3.1% of all cance rs diagnosed among Hispanics but only 0.5% of all cancers diagnosed among n on-Hispanic whites. This is explained by the lower incidence rate of cancer among California Hispanic adults than among non-Hispanic white adults and the difference in the age distribution of the two populations. (C) 1999 Ame rican Cancer Society.