Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #108634

Hee-Soon Juon, PhD, Dept. of Health Policy & Management, Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene, 624 N. Broadway, 7th floor, Baltimore, MD 21205, 410-614-5410, hjuon@jhsph.edu, Yan Hong, MA, Department of Health Policy & Management, Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 N. Broadway, #750, Baltimore, MD 21205, and Evoan Wong-Kim, PhD, Dept. of Social Work, California State University, 25800 Caroles Bee Blvd., Hayward, CA 94542.

Cancer is a leading cause of death among Asian Americans. Breast, cervical, colorectal, and liver cancers are the most commonly diagnosed cancers among Asian Americans. It is important to explore cancer screening behaviors of the Asian subgroups so as not to ignore the disparities that are present and the ability to impact on the health status of the subgroup. The purpose of this study is to examine variations of four cancer screening rates among the selected Asian American subgroups such as Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and South Asian adults using the 2001 CHIS data. SUDAAN software was used to take into account the design of the complex and multistage sample. Cancer screening rates for Asian Americans were below those for white and well below Healthy People 2010 objectives. Vietnamese women reported higher rate of never had Pap test than whites (26.4% vs. 4.1%). Korean women reported higher rate of never had mammogram than whites (26.3% vs. 8.7%). South Asians reported higher rates of never had colonoscopy than whites (66.5% vs. 44.8%). Vietnamese men reported higher rate of never had PSA than whites (78.7% vs. 39.5%). There were significant ethnic differences of cancer screening behaviors among Asian Americans: The variation among the Asian American women for the rate of having mammogram in the past year was as low as 41.1% for Korean women and as high as 61.9% for Japanese women. This study shows that information beyond the aggregate Asian American population masks any variations that exist among Asian Americans.

Learning Objectives:

• To explore cancer screening behaviors of the Asian subgroups

Keywords: Ethnic Minorities, Cancer Screening

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation