Cancer trends among Hispanic men in South Florida, 1981-1998.

Background: Hispanics now represent a majority of residents in Miami-Dade County, Florida. In this report, the authors present new cancer incidence and mortality data for South Florida's Hispanic men for the period 1990-1998 and compare them with data from a previous report from the 1980s. Periodic updating of cancer incidence data, reflecting current population distribution, lifestyle, and environmental risk factors, is necessary to inform cancer prevention and control activities optimally.

Methods: The study population consisted of all incidents of cancer (1981-1998) occurring in males from Miami-Dade County, as determined from the Florida Cancer Data System data base; patients were divided into two 9-year periods for analysis. Age-standardized incidence and mortality rates were computed for 14 common cancer sites, and rates for Hispanic men were compared with the rates for non-Hispanic white men as standardized rate ratios (SRRs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). Incidence and mortality trends were determined using linear regression analysis.

Results: Nearly 70,000 incident cancer cases were analyzed. For 1990-1998, the top five incident cancers for both race/ethnic groups were the same. The overall decreased cancer risk for Hispanic men (SRR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.79-0.82), compared with non-Hispanic white men, remained essentially constant over the two study periods. Cancer incidence increased similarly for the two race-ethnic groups; cancer mortality decreased, with a sharper decrease for non-Hispanic white men, resulting in apparent convergence of mortality trends recently.

Conclusions: Differences in cancer risk for South Florida's Hispanic men have not attenuated over the past 20 years. With cancer incidence significantly less for Hispanic men, their mortality rate approaches that of non-Hispanic white men, and cancer prevention and control strategies targeted for this ethnic group become increasingly important.