Immigrants Less Likely to Report Family History of Cancer

Immigrants Less Likely to Report Family History of Cancer
MONDAY, Dec. 10 (HealthDay News) -- Immigrants in the United States maybe less likely to report a family history of cancer, which may result ininadequate cancer screening and prevention strategies for that group ofpatients, a new study says.
Reporting in the Jan. 15 issue of Cancer, Dr. Heather Orom, ofthe Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, and her colleaguesnoted that cancer prevention guidelines recommend earlier and morefrequent screening for people with a family history of certaincancers.
The researchers analyzed data from 5,010 people who took part in the2005 Health Information Trends Survey, and found that foreign-bornrespondents were two-thirds less likely to report a family history ofcancer than U.S.-born respondents.
The lower rate of family cancer history reporting did not change asimmigrants became more integrated into American culture, the researchersfound. They suggested this may be because immigrants don't have easyaccess to family health history, due to separation from their relatives intheir native countries. In addition, some cultures don't openly discusshealth issues such as cancer.
The study authors wrote "that some immigrants might not have a familyhistory of cancer even though they have a genetic predisposition forcancer, in part, because they are from countries in which people are morelikely to die at a relatively young age of causes other than cancer andare not exposed to the same degree of behavioral and environmental riskfor the disease. In addition, due to under-diagnosis of cancer in manyimmigrants' countries of origin, lack of awareness of familial risk, andcommunication barriers in families, foreign-born patients may not be awareof their true family history of cancer."
Failing to take into account that immigrants may have a genetic risk ofcancer, even though there's no obvious family history of the disease, mayresult in inadequate cancer screening and prevention, the researchersconcluded.
More information
The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about cancer causes and risk factors.