Few studies have been done to examine breast cancer risk factors among specific groups of Asian-American women, especially Korean and Vietnamese-American women, two of the more newly immigrant Asian groups. We examined prevalence of several breast cancer risk factors among Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and non-Asian women >=40 years old at a health maintenance organization in Washington state. Risk factor information was taken from self-administered English-only questionnaires, mailed between May 1, 1988 and April 30, 1995 to 1,221 Asian-American women and a random sample of 3,000 non-Asian women. Secondary data analyses were performed on answers received from 677 Asian-American women and 2,922 non-Asian women. Results show more Asian-American women than non-Asian women delivered their first child when they were older than 29 years of age (28% vs 15%, p<0.05). Regarding other risk factors, fewer Asian-American women overall used estrogen than non-Asians (18% vs 31%, p<0.05), but more Korean-American women (33%) reported estrogen use. Use of oral contraceptives for Asian-Americans were lower than non-Asian women (43% vs 56%, p<0.05); it was lowest among Vietnamese and Korean-American women (27%) and highest among Chinese and Japanese-American women (50%). Fewer Asian-American women overall had a first degree relative with breast cancer than non-Asian women (7% vs 10%, p<0.05), and Vietnamese-American women were least likely to have reported having a first degree relative with breast cancer (2%). Asian-American women overall appear to have lower prevalence than non-Asian women for some risk factors, but differences exist when comparing one ethnic group to another.
Learning Objectives: 1. Identify one risk that is more prevalent in Asian-American women than in non-Asian women. 2. Identify 3 risk factors that is less prevalent in Asian-American women in aggreggate than non-Asian women but vary with respect to each ethnic group. 3. Generate a hypothesis to explain the difference in breast cancer incidence between historically more acculturated Asian-American groups (e.g. Chinese and Japanese-Americans) and relatively newly immigrant Asian-American groups (e.g Korean and Vietnamese-Americans) by examining how similar their risk profiles are to non-Asian women.
Keywords: Breast Cancer, Risk Factors
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.