Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

LIVE: Thursday 27th June 2024, 18:00-19:30 (CEST)
Join our expert panel to discover why you need to understand the drivers of non-adherence in your patients, and how you can optimize medication adherence in your clinics to drastically improve patient outcomes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health
Published in: Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health 1/2011

01-02-2011 | Original Paper

Cancer Incidence Among Canadian Immigrants, 1980–1998: Results from a National Cohort Study

Authors: Sarah McDermott, Marie DesMeules, Roxanne Lewis, Jenny Gold, Jennifer Payne, Bryan Lafrance, Bilkis Vissandjée, Erich Kliewer, Yang Mao

Published in: Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health | Issue 1/2011

Login to get access

Abstract

Canadian immigrants have lower overall cancer risk than the Canadian-born population. Less is known about risks for immigrant subgroups and site-specific cancers. Linked administrative data sets were used to compare cancer incidence between subgroups of immigrants to Canada and the general Canadian population. The study involved 128,962 refugees and 241,010 non-refugees. Standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) were calculated for all-site and site-specific cancers by immigration categories and regions of birth. Relative to the general Canadian population, incidence of all-site cancer was lower among immigrants overall, by sex and refugee status (non-refugee SIRs 0.25: men, 0.24: women; refugee SIRs 0.31: both). Significantly higher SIRs resulted for liver, nasopharyngeal and cervical cancers, including liver cancer among South-East Asian and North-East Asian immigrants, and nasopharyngeal cancer among North-East Asian non-refugees. Hypothesized explanations for variation in cancer incidence include earlier viral infection in the country of origin.
Appendix
Available only for authorised users
Literature
1.
2.
Statistics Canada. 2001 Census: analysis series, Canada’s ethnocultural portrait—the changing mosaic. Ottawa: Statistics Canada; 2003.
3.
Chen J, Ng E, Wilkins R. The health of Canada’s immigrants in 1994–95. Health Rep. 1996;7(4):33–45.PubMed
4.
Vissandjée B, DesMeules M, Kazanjian A, Cao Z, Abdool S. Integrating ethnicity and migration as determinants of Canadian women’s health. In: DesMeules M, Stewart D, Kazanjian A, McLean H, Payne J, Vissandjée B, editors. Women’s health surveillance report: a multidimensional look at the health of Canadian women. Ottawa: CIHI; 2003.
5.
Marrocco FN, Goslett HM, editors. The annotated immigration act of Canada. Toronto: Thomson Professional Publishing; 1993.
6.
Hyman I. Immigration and health. Ottawa: Health Canada; 2001.
7.
Kinnon D. Canadian research on immigration and health. Ottawa: Health Canada; 1999.
8.
9.
Kliewer EV, Smith KR. Breast cancer mortality among immigrants in Australia and Canada. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1995;87(15):1154–61.CrossRefPubMed
10.
Kliewer EV, Smith KR. Ovarian cancer mortality among immigrants in Australia and Canada. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 1995;4(5):453–8.PubMed
11.
Newman AM, Spengler RF. Cancer mortality among immigrant populations in Ontario, 1969 through 1973. Can Med Assoc J. 1984;130:399–405.PubMed
12.
Luo W, Birkett N, Ugnat AM, Mao Y. Cancer incidence patterns among Chinese immigrant populations in Alberta. J Immigr Health. 2004;6(1):41–8.CrossRefPubMed
13.
Gallagher RP, Elwood JM. Cancer mortality among Chinese, Japanese and Indians in British Columbia, 1964–73. Natl Cancer Inst Monogr. 1979;53:89–94.PubMed
14.
Hanley AJG. Cancer mortality patterns among Chinese migrant populations in Ontario. Masters thesis, University of Toronto, Toronto; 1992.
15.
Wang ZJ, Ramcharan S, Love EJ. Cancer mortality of Chinese in Canada. Int J Epidemiol. 1989;18:17–21.CrossRefPubMed
16.
Balzi D, Geddes M, Brancker A, Parkin DM. Cancer mortality in Italian migrants and their offspring in Canada. Cancer Causes Control. 1995;6:68–74.CrossRefPubMed
17.
Costa R, Renaud V. The Chinese in Canada. Can Social Trends. 1995;39((Statistics Canada publication code 11-008E)):22–6.
18.
Au WY, Gascoyne RD, Gallagher RE, Le N, Klasa RD, et al. Hodgkin’s lymphoma in Chinese migrants to British Columbia: a 25-year survey. Ann Oncol. 2004;15:626–30.CrossRefPubMed
19.
Probert A, Semenciw R, Mao Y, Gentleman J. Analysis of immigration data: 1980–1994. Chapter 9. In: Record linkage techniques, Proceedings of an international workshop and exposition, Arlington, VA, March 20–21; 1997.
20.
DesMeules M, Gold J, McDermott S, Cao Z, Payne J, Lafrance B, et al. Disparities in mortality patterns among Canadian immigrants and refugees, 1980–1998: results of a National Cohort Study. J Immigration Minority Health. 2005;7(4):221–32.CrossRef
21.
Singh GK, Siahpush M. All-cause and cause-specific mortality of immigrants and native born in the United States. Am J Public Health. 2001;91(3):392–9.CrossRefPubMed
22.
McCormack VA, Mangtani P, Bhakta D, McMichael AJ, Dos Santos Silva I. Heterogeneity of breast cancer risk within South Asian female population in England: a population-based case-control study of first-generation migrants. Br J Cancer. 2004;90(1):160–6.CrossRefPubMed
23.
Hemminki K, Li X, Czene K. Cancer risk in first-generation immigrants to Sweden. Int J Cancer. 2002;99(2):218–28.CrossRefPubMed
24.
Lee MM, Huang S. Immigrant women’s health: nutritional assessment and dietary intervention. West J Med. 2001;175(2):133–7.CrossRefPubMed
25.
Darmon N, Khlat M. An overview of the health status of migrants in France, in relation to their dietary practices. Public Health Nutr. 2001;4:163–72.PubMed
26.
Millar WJ. Place of birth and ethnic status: factors associated with smoking prevalence among Canadians. Health Rep. 1992;4(1):7–23. (Statistics Canada, Catalogue 82-2003).PubMed
27.
Hanley AJ, Choi BC, Holowaty EJ. Cancer mortality among Chinese migrants: a review. Int J Epidemiol. 1995;24:255–65.CrossRefPubMed
28.
Her C. Nasopharyngeal cancer and the Southeast Asian patient. Am Fam Physician. 2001;63:1776–82.PubMed
29.
Rosenblatt KA, Weiss NS, Schwarz SM. Liver cancer in Asian migrants to the United States and their descendants. Cancer Causes Control. 1996;7:345–50.CrossRefPubMed
30.
Albeck H, Bentzen J, Ockelmann HH, et al. Familial clusters of nasopharyngeal carcinoma and salivary gland carcinomas in Greenland natives. Cancer. 1993;72(1):196–200.CrossRefPubMed
31.
Warnakulasuriya KA, Johnson NW, Linklater KM, Bell J. Cancer of mouth, pharynx and nasopharynx in Asian and Chinese immigrants resident in Thames regions. Oral Oncol. 1999;35(5):471–5.CrossRefPubMed
32.
Seeff LC, McKenna MT. Cervical cancer mortality among foreign-born women living in the United States, 1985 to 1996. Cancer Detect Prev. 2003;27(3):203–8.CrossRefPubMed
33.
Haworth EA, Soni Raleigh V, Balarajan R. Cirrhosis and primary liver cancer amongst first generation migration in England and Wales. Ethn Health. 1999;4(1–2):93–9.CrossRefPubMed
34.
35.
Taylor VM, Jackson JC, Pineda M, Pham P, Fischer M, Yasui Y. Hepatitis B knowledge among Vietnamese immigrants: implications for prevention of hepatocellular carcinoma. J Cancer Educ. 2000;15(1):51–5.PubMed
36.
McCredie M, Williams S, Coates M. Cancer mortality in East and Southeast Asian migrants to New South Wales, Australia, 1975–1995. Br J Cancer. 1999;79(7–8):1277–82.CrossRefPubMed
37.
Rosenblatt KA, Weiss NS, Schwartz SM. Liver cancer in Asian migrants to the United States and their descendants. Cancer Causes Control. 1996;7(3):345–50.CrossRefPubMed
38.
Hislop TG, Chong T, Low A, Li L, Tu S-P, Yasui Y, Taylor VM. Hepatitis B knowledge, testing and vaccination levels in Chinese immigrants to British Columbia, Canada. Can J Public Health. 2007;98:125–9.PubMed
39.
40.
Lofters A, Glazier RH, Agha MM, Creatore MI, Moineddin R. Inadequacy of cervical cancer screening among urban recent immigrants: a population-based study of physician and laboratory claims in Toronto, Canada. Prev Med. 2007;44:536–42.CrossRefPubMed
41.
Mcdonald JT, Kennedy S. Cervical cancer screening by immigrant and minority women in Canada. J Immigr Minor Health. 2007;9(4):323–34.CrossRefPubMed
42.
43.
Parikh S, Brennan P, Boffetta P. Meta-analysis of social inequality and the risk of cervical cancer. Int J Cancer. 2003;105:687–91.CrossRefPubMed
44.
Flores YN, Bishai DM, Shah KV, Lazcano-Ponce E, Lörincz A, Hernández M, Ferris D, Salmerón J. Risk factors for cervical cancer among HPV positive women in Mexico. salud pública de méxico. 2008;50(1):49–58.CrossRefPubMed
45.
Schiffman MH, Bauer HM, Hoover RN, Glass AG, Cadell DM, Rush BB, Scott DR, Sherman ME, Kurman RJ, Wacholder S, Stanton CK, Manos MM. Epidemiologic evidence showing that human papillomavirus infection causes most cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1993;85(12):958–64.CrossRefPubMed
46.
Mackillop WJ, Zhang-Salomons J, Boyd CJ, Groome PA. Associations between community income and cancer incidence in Canada and the United States. Cancer. 2000;89:901–12.CrossRefPubMed
47.
Singh GK, Miller BA, Hankey BF, Edwards BK. Persistent area socioeconomic disparities in US incidence of cervical cancer, mortality, stage, and survival, 1975–2000. Cancer. 2004;101(5):1051–7.CrossRefPubMed
48.
Bosch FX, Manos MM, Munoz N, Sherman M, Jansen AM, Peto J, et al. Prevalence of human papillomavirus in cervical cancer: a worldwide perspective. International biological study on cervical cancer (IBSCC) Study Group. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1995;87(11):796–802.CrossRefPubMed
49.
Juon HS, Seung Lee C, Klassen AC. Predictors of regular Pap smear among Korean American women. Prev Med. 2003;37((6 Pt 1)):585–92.CrossRefPubMed
50.
Donnelly TT. The health-care practices of Vietnamese-Canadian women: cultural influences on breast and cervical cancer screening. Can J Nurs Res. 2006;38:82–101.PubMed
51.
Black MEA, Frisina A, Hack T, Carpio B. Improving early detection of breast and cervical cancer in Chinese and Vietnamese immigrant women. Oncol Nurs Forum. 2006;33:873–6.CrossRefPubMed
Metadata
Title
Cancer Incidence Among Canadian Immigrants, 1980–1998: Results from a National Cohort Study
Authors
Sarah McDermott
Marie DesMeules
Roxanne Lewis
Jenny Gold
Jennifer Payne
Bryan Lafrance
Bilkis Vissandjée
Erich Kliewer
Yang Mao
Publication date
01-02-2011
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health / Issue 1/2011
Print ISSN: 1557-1912
Electronic ISSN: 1557-1920
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-010-9347-3

Other articles of this Issue 1/2011

Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health 1/2011 Go to the issue

Original Paper

Acculturation and Metabolic Syndrome Risk Factors in Young Mexican and Mexican–American Women

Original Paper

Neighborhood Changes in Concentrated Immigration and Late Stage Breast Cancer Diagnosis

Original Paper

Clinicopathologic Presentation of Asian-Indian American (AIA) Women with Stage 0, I & II Breast Cancer

Original Paper

Race, Immigrant Status, and Cancer Among Women in the United States

Original Paper

Anthropometric and Lifestyle Associations of Bone Mass in Healthy Pre-Menopausal Mexican and Asian American Women

Original Paper

Young Asian Americans’ Knowledge and Perceptions of Cervical Cancer and the Human Papillomavirus