Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Our aim was to determine the incidence rates of head and neck cancer in Vietnamese Californians compared with other Asian and non-Asian Californians.

METHODS:

Age-adjusted incidence rates of head and neck cancer between 1988 and 2004 were computed for Vietnamese Californians compared with other racial/ethnic groups by time period, ethnicity, neighborhood-level socioeconomic status (SES), and sex using data from the population-based California Cancer Registry (CCR). Data by smoking and alcohol status were tabulated from the California Health Interview Survey.

RESULTS:

Vietnamese men had a higher incidence rate of head and neck cancer than other Asian men. Specifically, the laryngeal cancer rate was significantly higher for Vietnamese men (6.5/100,000; 95% confidence interval [CI], 5.0-8.2) than all other Asian men (range, 2.6-3.8/100,000), except Korean men (5.1/100,000; 95% CI, 3.9-6.4). Both Vietnamese and Korean men had the highest percentage of current smokers. Neighborhood SES was inversely related to head and neck cancer rates among Vietnamese men and women.

CONCLUSION:

The higher incidence rate of head and neck cancer in Vietnamese men may correspond to the higher smoking prevalence in this group. Individual-level data are needed to establish the link of tobacco, alcohol, and other risk factors with head and neck cancer in these patients.

© 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.