Breast Cancer Risks for Hispanic Women Studied

Hispanic women may have some different risk factors for breast cancer than Caucasian women, says a study in the medical journal Cancer.

Experts have long known that breast cancer rates, as well as death rates from the disease, vary by ethnic group.

About 15 percent of the US population is Hispanic. Dr. Lisa M. Hines, a researcher at the University of Colorado and lead author of the study, says that few studies have looked at breast cancer risk in the Hispanic population to see if the risks for breast cancer, taken from studies of mostly Caucasian women, hold true for Hispanic women.

Statistics show that Hispanic women are less likely to have breast cancer than are Caucasian women. Out of 100,000 Hispanic women, 89 of them will receive a breast cancer diagnosis, as compared with 132 of every 100,000 non-Hispanic Caucasian women. However, Hispanic women are more likely to die from the disease.

Hormone Use, Start of Menstruation Less of a Concern

The new study looked at premenopausal and postmenopausal women. Dr. Hines says recent hormone use and younger age at the start of menstruation did not appear to play as big a role in Hispanic women.

In younger women, notes Dr. Hines, family history and taller height - found in general to slightly increase breast cancer risk for some women - did not appear to be as strongly linked with breast cancer among Hispanics as in Caucasians.

The study looked at women enrolled in the 4-Corners Breast Cancer Study - named because participants lived in New Mexico, Utah, Arizona and Colorado, four states whose boundaries touch at one point.

In all, 4,809 women - 3,134 postmenopausal and 1,675 premenopausal - were studied from 1999 to 2002. All women had been asked about their reproductive history, activity level, height, hormone use, alcohol intake and family history.

Key findings include that postmenopausal Hispanic women did not seem to be affected by recent hormone therapy use or by having started their menstrual periods at a younger age.

Among younger Hispanic women, taller height and family history were not found to be linked with increased risk, as they were among Caucasian women.

Turning over Every Stone for Answers

Exactly why different risk factors have a different impact is not known, Hines says, and the results suggest the question: Are there other unknown risk factor that elevate Hispanics' breast cancer risk?

Jane Delgado, president and chief executive of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health, says the research is timely.

"As one in every six women is Hispanic, it is good to do a study like this," says Delgado. "The issue is that we know that cancer is not one disease but many diseases, and how it presents itself is going to show great variability by individuals."

For now, Dr. Hines explains, Hispanic women should still follow the same cancer-prevention advice as others. That means getting regular exercise, eating a healthy diet and, for older women, scheduling mammograms regularly.

Always consult your physician for more information.