Cancer rates for Asian American, Pacific Islander people vary by ethnicity
At more than a third of all new diagnoses, breast cancer is the most common type of cancer for Asian American women — just as it is for the overall female U.S. population, statistics show.
But when data on breast cancer among Asian American women are broken down by ethnic subgroup, that figure changes. While the disease accounts for 32% of cancer diagnoses for Chinese women, breast cancer makes up 17% of cancers for Hmong women and 41% for Pakistani women, a new report shows.
Released May 1 by the American Cancer Society, the report documents overall cancer rates for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander people and for ethnic subgroups within the populations, who are often lumped together in health research. When data on the populations are broken down, they offer new opportunities for education and interventions, report authors said.
Among the report’s findings:
• Liver cancer ranks second or third as the most common type of cancer for Cambodian, Hmong, Laotian and Vietnamese men and ranks fourth for Chinese, Pakistani and Tongan men. But for U.S. men overall, liver cancer does not even make the top 10.
• The five-year survival rate for colorectal cancer is 65% for white people, but ranges from 48% for Cambodian people to 71% for Pakistani people.
• Death rates for preventable cancers — including liver, stomach and cervical cancers — are as much as three times higher for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander people than for white people.
• While heart disease has been the leading overall cause of death in the U.S. for more than 100 years, cancer is the leading cause of death for Americans of Chinese, Filipino, Korean and Vietnamese ancestry.
Although the report does not explore reasons for the differences, authors noted that cancer screening is generally lower among Asian American people than white people. They called for wider translation of cancer information into native languages, improved access to health care for the populations and greater emphasis on culturally appropriate care.
About 24 million Asian American and 1.7 million Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander people lived in the U.S. as of 2021, making up about 8% of the population.
Airborne chemicals in cars pose risks to health
The air people breathe while inside their cars can be contaminated with potentially harmful levels of flame-retardant chemicals, a new study concludes.
Published May 7 in Environmental Science & Technology, the study examined samples collected from model-year 2015 or newer cars from a range of manufacturers.
Researchers detected tris (1-chloro-isopropyl) phosphate, also known as TCIPP, in the air of 99% of the cars. Used as a flame retardant in furniture and car seating, TCIPP is under evaluation by the U.S. National Toxicology Program as a potential carcinogen.
Most cars also tested positive for organophosphate ester flame retardants, including two — tris (1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate and tris (2-chloroethyl) phosphate — named as possible carcinogens by California’s chemical exposure warning program.
Flame-retardant levels in the air of the cars increased during the summer, when seat foam and other materials were subjected to higher temperatures. During both winter and summer, TCIPP concentrations were six times lower in electric vehicles than in those fueled by gasoline, the study found.
Flame retardants are regularly added to car seat foam by manufacturers to meet a flammability standard set by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the 1970s. However, the chemicals only delay car fires for a matter of seconds and endanger firefighters, according to Consumer Reports, which is calling on NHTSA to reexamine the standard.
In 2013, California updated its flammability standard so that flame-retardant chemicals were no longer needed in furniture and baby products sold in the state. A study released in March found the change has significantly reduced the presence of the chemicals in consumer products.
Black, American Indian and Alaska Native dying young at higher rates
More Americans are dying while young, with Black and American Indian and Alaska Native youth disproportionately affected, a new study finds.
Nearly 492,000 U.S. youth ages 1 to 19 died from 1999 to 2020, according to the study published May 4 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
While 24 white youth died per 100,000 population, Black youth died at a rate of 42 per 100,000 and American Indian and Alaska Native youth at nearly 48 per 100,000. Death rates for Hispanic, Asian and Pacific Islander youth fell below the rates for white children and teens.
Injuries were main reason for the higher death rates for Black and American Indian and Alaska Native youth, the researchers said. About 13 of every 100,000 Black youth died by homicide from 2016 to 2020 — more than 10 times higher than the homicide rate for white youth. About 11 of every 100,000 American Indian and Alaska Native youth died by suicide during the same time period, twice as high the suicide rate of white youth.
Many of the deaths were linked to firearms, with Black youth four times more likely to die by a gun-related injury than white youth. Overall, the risk of dying by firearm increased 108% for Black youth and 124% for American Indian and Alaska Native youth from 2013-2020, the research found.
Other disparities were found in youth deaths from diseases such as asthma, influenza and heart failure. American Indian and Alaska Native youth were more than three times higher than white youth to die from pneumonia and flu, for example.
A previous study by the research team, released last year, found death rates for U.S. youth rose 18.3% from 2019 to 2021, the biggest jump in at least 50 years.
Stove fumes endanger health, especially in small spaces
Gas and propane cooking fumes can pose health risks for anyone who breathes them in. But some Americans are more likely to be exposed to high levels, new findings show.
In a study published May 3 in Science Advances, researchers examined the amount of nitrogen dioxide, also known as NO2, released by gas and propane stoves during cooking. They found that both short- and long-term exposure often nears or exceeds health guidelines and may be responsible for up to 19,000 annual deaths in the U.S.
Exposure to fumes is higher for people who live in homes that are less than 800 square feet, as emissions become more concentrated. Those residents are exposed to twice as much NO2 a year than the national average, and to four times as much NO2 as people who live in homes that are about 3,000 square feet.
As people with lower incomes are more likely to live in smaller homes, they are more likely to be exposed to higher levels of NO2 emissions. People who made less than $10,000 a year had twice the long-term exposure to NO2 from gas and propane stoves than those who made $150,000 per year, for example.
Disparities were also found by race and ethnicity: Black and American Indian and Alaska Native households experienced 60% more exposure to long-term NO2 than the national average, while Hispanic households experienced 20% more.
Other recent public health news of note includes:
• A study in Geoderma finds global warming can deplete grassland soil of vital nutrients, which could have implications for animal and human food supplies as climate change worsens.
• U.S. tribes will be better able to protect the quality of water on their lands under a new final rule announced May 2 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
• Deep-sea fish living near a mid-20th century dumping site for the pesticide DDT are contaminated with related chemicals, finds a study in Environmental Science & Technology Letters.
• EPA has finalized its new rule to strengthen methane emissions reporting by oil and natural gas systems — the nation’s largest industrial source of the greenhouse gas.
• New research in the Journal of Quantitative Criminology finds Black drivers are more likely to be searched during traffic stops that fail to find contraband than white drivers.
The Watch is written by Michele Late, who has more than two decades of experience as a public health journalist.