ASPO Abstracts
Comparing age at cancer diagnosis between Hispanics and non-Hispanic Whites in the United States
Category: Cancer Health Disparities
Conference Year: 2020
Abstract Body:
Purpose: To examine ages at cancer diagnosis for United States (US) Hispanics compared with non-Hispanic
whites (NHWs) after adjustment for population age structure, which may play a role in confounding the age at
cancer diagnosis.
Methods: We analyzed Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) data for US Hispanics and NHWs
from 18 US regions in 2015. Separately for 32 cancer sites, we calculated crude mean ages at diagnosis and
population structure-adjusted mean ages at diagnosis using age- and sex-specific weights. For each cancer
site, we examined differences between the crude and the adjusted mean ages at diagnosis using t-tests, by
Hispanic ethnicity and sex. Using SEER*Stat, we also examined age-adjusted incidence rates for the three
cancer sites with the largest positive/negative mean age differences by ethnicity and gender, as appropriate.
Results: Compared to NHW males, Hispanic males were younger at diagnosis of testicular cancer (mean age
difference, δ= -4.74, 95% CI= -5.44, -4.04 yrs), and Kaposi sarcoma (δ = -3.58, 95% CI= -6.34, -0.82, but older
at diagnosis of gallbladder cancer (δ = 3.15, 95% CI= 1.81, 5.70 yrs) and Hodgkin’s lymphoma (δ = 7.53, 95%
CI= 5.72, 9.37 yrs), after adjustment for population age structure. Compared to NHW females, Hispanic
females were younger at diagnosis of mesothelioma (δ= -3.72, 95% CI= -6.73, -0.72 yrs), and gallbladder
cancer (δ = -3.0, 95% CI= -4.27, -1.74 yrs), but older at diagnosis of Hodgkin’s lymphoma (δ = 7.03, 95% CI=
4.99, 9.07 yrs), and Kaposi sarcoma (δ = 11.3, 95% CI= 2.41, 20.19 yrs), after adjustment for population age
structure. Notable changes in crude age at cancer diagnosis differences to after adjustment included: male
brain cancer (-11.2 to 1.2 yrs), male bone and joint cancer (-13.4 to -1.06 yrs), female brain cancer (-10.1 to
3.1 yrs), and female bone and joint cancer (-10.1 to 2.9 yrs).
Conclusions: Hispanics appear to experience a younger crude age at cancer diagnosis than NHWs; however,
after adjustment for population age structure, Hispanics had an older age at diagnosis for many of these
cancer sites. Adjustment for population structure may be important for various cancer sites when comparing
ages at diagnosis between populations with different underlying age structures.
Keywords: Population Age Structure, Hispanics, NHW