| Abstract
| - Background. There is a paucity of data about cancer among American-Samoans, the largest Pacific Islander group after Hawaiians This study provides the first data on the incidence and relative risk for all cancers among American-Samoans on the US mainland and in Hawaii. Methods. The University of Southern California Cancer Surveillance Program and the Hawaii Tumor Registry, two population-based cancer surveillance programmes, provided archival data on American-Samoans residing in Los Angeles County, California and in Hawaii, respectively. Results. There were significant differences in the incidence and age-adjusted site-specific relative risk of cancers between Amencan-Samoans, Hawaiians, and Anglos (non-Hispanic whites). In Hawaii, American-Samoans diagnosed with cancer compared with Hawaiians had a higher age-adjusted site-specific relative nsk for cancers of the nasopharynx (especially males), liver, prostate, thyroid, and blood (especially females) and a lower relative risk for cancers of the colon, rectum (especially males), lung (especially females) and breast Furthermore, compared with Anglos diagnosed with cancer in Hawaii, American-Samoans had a higher relative risk for cancers of the nasopharynx (especially males), stomach, liver, lung (especially males), corpus uteri, thyroid and blood, and a lower relative risk for cancers of the colon, skin, breast, testes, cervix uten, bladder (especially males), and lymph nodes. A relatively similar profile of cancer distribution and relative risk was observed among American-Samoans and Anglos diagnosed with cancer in California. Conclusions. The data provide baseline information which has Important implications for future cancer control research and prevention in this population. Conclusions. The data provide baseline information which has important implications for future cancer control research and prevention in this population.
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