A new study has found rates for most cancer types – including skin melanoma and smoking-related diseases – were lower in black, Asian and other non-white minority groups than their white counterparts in England. However, incidence rates for certain cancers, such as Hodgkin’s lymphoma, thyroid and several gastrointestinal cancers were higher in Asian and black people.
Lifestyle and other external risk factors (such as smoking and obesity, and access to or use of healthcare services) rather than genetic factors, ‘likely drive the differences in incidence rates among racial and ethnic groups’, noted medicalnewstoday.com.
And understanding these underlying risk factors ‘is necessary to inform public health measures and mitigate differences’.
Researchers for the study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, obtained data from the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service for cases in England between 2013-2017 and calculated rates by site (prostate, lung, breast, etc).
Lead author Dr Christine Delon summed up: ‘It’s really important to understand what the evidence is and where there are inequalities in cancer incidence to inform efforts in risk factor prevention and cancer service planning and delivery.’
