Hispanics/Latinos generally have lower cancer rates than Whites in the U.S. However, some cancers are more common among Hispanics/Latinos, including liver and cervical cancer where mortality rates are higher among this population. Also, stomach cancer is more common among Latino women than among White women.¹ However, Latinos are a highly heterogeneous population with diverse national origins and the cancer rates differ by the country of origin. For example, Puerto Rican and Cuban Latinos have higher incidence rates of cancer than Mexican Latinos. Foreign-born Latinos have better survival than U.S.-born Latinos.²

Asians and Pacific Islanders have lower cancer rates than Whites. However, there are some cancers that occur at higher rates in Asians and Pacific Islanders, including stomach and liver cancer.³ Furthermore, cancer is the leading cause of death among all Asian and Pacific Islander populations in the U.S.⁴ There is substantial variation in cancer occurrence among Asian subpopulations originating from more than 23 countries.⁵

Cancer Resources in Spanish:

National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Información sobre cáncer de NCI en español (Cancer Information from NCI in Spanish)

MedlinePlus

Información sobre cáncer de MedlinePlus (Cancer Information from MedlinePlus)

Cancer Resources in Asian Languages:

MedlinePlus

कैंसर के बारे में हिन्दी में जानकारी (Cancer Information in Hindi)

암 정보(한국어) (Cancer Information in Korean)

中文的癌症信息 (Cancer Information in Chinese)

Impormasyon sa Kanser sa Tagalog (Cancer Information in Tagalog)

Thông tin về bệnh ung thư (Cancer Information in Vietnamese)

癌の情報（日本語）(Cancer Information in Japanese)

References

1. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health. Cancer and Hispanic Americans.
2. Variability in Cancer Risk and Outcomes Within U.S. Latinos by National Origin and Genetic Ancestry. Curr Epidemiol Rep. 2016;3:181-190. Epub 2016 Jun 30. Stern MC, Fejerman L, Das R, Setiawan VW, Cruz-Correa MR, Perez-Stable EJ, Figueiredo JC.
3. National Cancer Institute. Incidence and Mortality by Race/Ethnicity CSR 1975-2013. PDF (848KB)
4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Vital Statistics Report. Vol. 65 No. 5. Deaths: Leading Causes for 2014 PDF (3.5MB)
5. Cancer statistics for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, 2016: converging incidence in males and females. CA Cancer J Clin.

Page updated December 28, 2021