OAKLAND, Calif., April 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Sadly, cancer is an everyday fact of life. The disease, which strikes one in three and kills one in four, is the second leading cause of death and the number one health concern among all Americans. Minority groups

National Minority Cancer Awareness Week, which is being recognized April 17 - 21, is an effort to bring heightened awareness to these issues. Data from the American Cancer Society (ACS), National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention such as the following helps illuminate cancer trends in minority populations such as African Americans, who are more likely to develop and die of cancer than whites or any other racial or ethnic group in the US: -- Although cancer is common in Americans of all racial and ethnic groups, the rate of cancer occurrence (often called the incidence rate) varies considerably from group to group. Among men, cancer rates are highest among African-Americans, followed by whites whose rates are about 16 percent lower. Cancer incidence rates for American Indian men in New Mexico are the lowest, and rates among Asian men, in particular, Chinese, Filipinos, and Koreans, are also low. Among women, the differences in rates across racial and ethnic groups are less pronounced than among men. Rates are highest among Alaska-Native women, followed closely by white women. Cancer incidence rates are lowest for American Indian women from New Mexico. -- About 443 out of every 100,000 African-Americans were diagnosed with cancer from 1990-96, versus 403 of every 100,000 whites, 279 per 100,000 Asian/Pacific Islanders, 153 per 100,000 American Indians and 275 per 100,000 Hispanic Americans. During that same time period, 168 of every 100,000 whites died of cancer, versus 223 per 100,000 African-Americans, 103 per 100,000 Asian/Pacific Islanders, 104 per 100,000 American Indians and 105 per 100,000 Hispanics. -- African-American men are at least 50 percent more likely to develop prostate cancer than men of any other racial or ethnic group in the US. Interestingly, some of the world's lowest rates of prostate cancer may be found among black men in certain regions of Africa, according to data from the book Cancer in Five Continents. -- While white women are most likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer (113 cases per 100,000 white women from 1990-96, versus 99 per 100,000 black women), black women are more likely to die from the disease. From 1990-96, 31 of every 100,000 black women died of breast cancer versus 26 per 100,000 white women. -- African-American men and women have the highest incidence rates of cancers of the colon and rectum, and lung and bronchus. -- Death rates from breast cancer increased among American Indian/Alaska Native women more than four percent per year during 1990-96, a time when rates for other groups were stable or decreasing. -- Death rates from cervical cancer increased .2 percent per year on average during 1990-96 among Hispanic women and newly diagnosed cases of cervical cancer increased more than 1.3 percent on average during that time period. -- American Indian/Alaska Natives have the highest smoking prevalence among racial and ethnic groups; Asian/Pacific Islanders have the lowest. -- In 1997, the national prevalence of current cigarette smoking among high school students was 32 percent higher than in 1991. Smoking increased 80 percent among black students, 34 percent among Hispanic students and 28 percent among white students. -- Only 54 percent of African-American women live five years or longer after being diagnosed with endometrial cancer, compared to 86 percent of white women. Lack of access to health care and less intense treatment only partially explain this disparity, according to Duke University researchers reporting at ACS's 42nd Annual Science Writers Seminar in late March. The research team found the tumor suppressor gene called PTEN was four times more likely to be damaged in the endometrial tumors of African-American study subjects than white subjects. Growing national attention Lovell Jones, PhD, who directs the Center for Excellence for Research on Minority Health at the University of Texas, says the health care community has been striving since 1950 to understand why certain minority groups tend to suffer more from cancer. Jones, who instigated and drafted the legislation that created National Minority Cancer Awareness Week, says he is pleased with the growing national attention to this problem. ``The American Cancer Society is mindful of the huge number of people who are underserved on not just cancer [education], but on other health issues as well,'' says Hugh F. Stallworth, MD, MPH, national vice president of cancer risks for the ACS. A few examples of the ACS's increasing efforts to reach out to minority and underserved populations include the following: -- EN ESPANNOL: Many cancer education documents have been translated into Spanish, including those posted on the special section of the ACS website called en Espannol. Spanish-speaking Cancer Information Specialists are available around the clock to answer questions about cancer via the ACS's National Cancer Information Center at 800-ACS-2345. -- TRACKING TRENDS: At the beginning of each year, ACS epidemiologists and statisticians try to forecast for the nation the toll cancer is expected to take that year, including its effect on racial and ethnic minorities. These estimates of the (incidence) rates at which various cancers are expected occur in whites, African Americans, Asian/Pacific Islanders, American Indians and Hispanic Americans are published each January in Cancer Facts & Figures, as are estimates of expected cancer death (mortality) rates in these groups. Every few years, ACS's Department of Epidemiology and Surveillance also publishes Cancer Facts & Figures for African Americans, an in-depth look at cancer in the group most affected by this disease. -- RESEARCH GRANTS: "Cancer in the Poor and Underserved" was the chosen as the subject for ACS's Targeted Research Project Grants for 1999. -- ASIAN AWARENESS: More than 200 members of New England's Asian-American community gathered in Boston's Chinatown in March to launch the inception of an Asian-American Advisory Board. The group is working with the Massachusetts Bay Region unit of the ACS to plan an education conference this fall to address disturbing trends that suggest cancer death rates increased more among Asian Americans than in any other racial or ethnic minority between 1990-93. Cancer is, in fact, the leading cause of death among Asian-American and Pacific Islander women. -- GAY ADVISORY BOARD: The Massachusetts Bay Region unit of the ACS has also gathered gay leaders and advocates to form a Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Advisory Board. For its first project, Board members conducted a sensitivity training for ACS staff and volunteers that included critiques of ACS material. "The Board is helping to make us aware of some of the cancer-related issues this minority group struggles with," says Maureen Sullivan, regional vice president for the Massachusetts Bay Region unit. -- MANY LANGUAGES: ACS's California Division has created a Multilingual Cancer Resource Center. A growing collection of educational brochures translated into several languages is available from California unit offices of the ACS and from the Resource Center's website. -- BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH CENTER: Investigators at the Behavioral Research Center based at ACS's national home office are developing measures for assessing quality of life that will provide comparable data in cancer patients from culturally diverse populations including African Americans and Hispanic Americans varying in levels of literacy and socioeconomic status. -- PUBLIC POLICY: Cancer is a political, as well as medical, social, psychological and economic issue. Policy makers at all levels of government make decisions every day which impact the lives of than eight million cancer survivors, their families and all potential cancer patients. The ACS's advocacy initiative strives to influence public policies at all levels. One of the four areas upon which ACS's public policy advocates place special emphasis is on improved access for all Americans, particularly poor and underserved Americans, to a range of health care services for the prevention, early detection, diagnosis and treatment of cancer and care of cancer patients. Cancer education in the city and country Stallworth is spearheading a three-year pilot educational program designed to reach underserved populations including minority groups. Four communities -- two rural and two urban -- will be participate, including: Greenwood, Miss., and Haywood County, Tenn., Baltimore, Md. and Bridgeport, Conn. ACS staff will focus educational efforts on two types of cancer in African-American populations in these communities. Breast cancer will be evaluated in the rural areas and colorectal cancer will be evaluated in the urban communities. ``The process used is readily transferable to other types of cancers and [ethnic or racial] groups,'' Stallworth says. This initiative starts with a comprehensive training curriculum for ACS staff and volunteers, called outreach community specialists, that includes training on how to develop relationships with and make assessments of historically poor and underserved populations, pinpoint barriers to early cancer detection and tailor specific ways to help in these communities. Stallworth plans to have the program up and running by early summer 2000. Once this pilot is completed, his team will embark on similar projects to evaluate cancer perceptions in Hispanic and Asian communities. History of the awareness week Since 1987, the third week in April has been set aside as National Minority Cancer Awareness Week, a time when researchers and health care professionals across the country focus on educating minority populations about cancer and learning why some ethnic minorities are more likely to develop and die from certain types of cancers. ``In some groups, cancer is more devastating than in others,'' says Dr. Jones, who is also a professor of gynecologic oncology at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Years ago, Dr. Jones began seeing a trend in which cancer was particularly burdensome to certain minorities and he sought a way to publicize and educate the public on this problem at a national level. His idea was to have this particular week recognized to coincide with a biennial symposium on minorities and cancer sponsored by the Intercultural Cancer Council. The most recent of these nationwide conferences, the 7th Biennial Symposium on Minorities, the Medically Underserved and Cancer, took place in mid-February in Washington, D.C. Local and national leaders from dozens of minority communities across the country met with academic researchers and political advocates to share information, present data and develop strategies on ways to address the unequal burden of cancer experienced by minorities. For more information about National Minority Cancer Awareness Week, minority cancer rates in California or to schedule interviews with local spokespersons, please contact Alonza Robertson at 510-893-7900 ext. 223 or via cellular at 510-710-7469. The American Cancer Society is the nationwide community-based voluntary health organization dedicated to the eliminating of cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives and diminishing suffering from cancer through research, education and service. Contact us anytime at www.cancer.org or 800-ACS-2345.

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