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Cancer mortality trends in the South Asian population of England and Wales, 1993-2004
Camille Maringe, Punam Mangtani, Michel P Coleman, Bernard Rachet, Isabel dos Santos Silva
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
We have examined cancer mortality trends in South Asians in England and Wales. South Asians can be reliably identified from the names in death records. National mortality patterns in this ethnic group cannot be examined in any other way, because ethnicity is not recorded on the death certificate
Death records were flagged for South Asian ethnicity using the SANGRA algorithm, which has high validity. Denominator data were obtained by interpolation from the 1991 and 2001 censuses.
Mean annual death rates directly age-standardised to the world standard population were calculated for three calendar periods: 1993-95, 1996-98 and 1999-2003. Age-standardised mortality rate ratios (ASRRs) up to age 75 were derived for South Asians compared with non South Asians.
Death from lung cancer was the commonest cause in South Asian men (20% of cancer deaths). The ASRRs were 0.49 (95%CI 0.44-0.55) in 1993-95 and were the same in 1999-03 (0.49,0.45-0.53). In South Asian women, the commonest cancer death was breast cancer (22%). The ASRR rose from 0.56 (95% CI 0.48-0.63) in 1993-95 to 0.73 (0.66-0.80) in 1999-2003. The rate ratio for colorectal cancer, contrary to some patterns with migration, remained stable at 0.52 (0.42-0.62) in 1993-95 and 0.44 (0.38-0.51) in 1999-03 in men; 0.35 (0.25-0.45) and 0.42 (0.34-0.51) in women.
This is the first initial analysis of national cancer mortality patterns in ethnic South Asian migrants. Mortality risks from lung cancer in men or colorectal cancer in both sexes do not appear to be increasing but mortality from breast cancer in women does.
