Distribution of Cancer Mortality Among Ethnic Subgroups of the White Population of New York City, 1953–58

• Published in: JNCI : Journal of the National Cancer Institute 1961-01, Vol.26 (2), p.405-417
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0027-8874; 1460-2105
• DOI: 10.1093/jnci/26.2.405

Data on 84,341 deaths of white residents in New York City occurring in the years 1953–58 and attributed to malignant neoplasm were examined with respect to nativity status and religion. Comparison was with estimates of the religious distribution of the population of the city and with a 2 percent sample of deaths from all causes in 1955. After age adjustment, total mortality rates from all neoplastic disorders were similar in the native-born and foreign-born populations, and differences between religious groups were not remarkable. Rates for the foreign-born and native-born for specific sites of malignant neoplasm showed relatively small differences. Data were not available to enable examination of cancer-mortality rates according to specific country of birth of the foreign-born. Most striking were the differences in rates of mortality from individual sites of neoplasm between the Jewish group and the Catholic and Protestant groups. Among males, cancers of the buccal cavity and pharynx, esophagus, gall-bladder, larynx, lung, prostate, skin (other than melanoma), and other male genitalia were appreciably less common in the Jewish group than in either of the other religious groups. In females, cancer of the cervix uteri showed the same pattern. Certain sites exhibited higher rates in the Jewish group. These included cancers of the large intestine, kidney, brain, and thyroid, and melanoma, reticulum-cell sarcoma, lymphosarcoma, Hodgkin's disease, other lymphoma, and leukemia. Cancer of the male breast and, among females, cancers of the liver and pancreas, were also more common among the Jewish group. With some minor modifications, these patterns according to religion were seen in both the native-born and foreign-born populations.