Cancer incidence in the Western United States: ethnic differences.

Incidence rates of selected cancer sites reported by the California Tumor Registry and the New Mexico Tumor Registry are analyzed to study ethnic differences in cancer in the United States. The white majority population shows high incidence of lung and breast cancers. Black males show the highest prostatic cancer rate. Data also confirm the unusually high incidence of nasopharyngeal cancer and low prostatic cancer rates among Chinese males. The Japanese have the highest stomach cancer incidence among all the ethnic groups analyzed. A comparison with the cancer incidence in the same ethnic groups in their native countries reveals the impact of environmental or cultural changes on lung, breast, and stomach cancers, and a possible genetic influence on the high incidence of nasopharyngeal cancer among the Chinese population in the United States.