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Cancer Incidence Among Canadian Immigrants, 1980–1998: Results from a National Cohort Study

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Abstract

Canadian immigrants have lower overall cancer risk than the Canadian-born population. Less is known about risks for immigrant subgroups and site-specific cancers. Linked administrative data sets were used to compare cancer incidence between subgroups of immigrants to Canada and the general Canadian population. The study involved 128,962 refugees and 241,010 non-refugees. Standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) were calculated for all-site and site-specific cancers by immigration categories and regions of birth. Relative to the general Canadian population, incidence of all-site cancer was lower among immigrants overall, by sex and refugee status (non-refugee SIRs 0.25: men, 0.24: women; refugee SIRs 0.31: both). Significantly higher SIRs resulted for liver, nasopharyngeal and cervical cancers, including liver cancer among South-East Asian and North-East Asian immigrants, and nasopharyngeal cancer among North-East Asian non-refugees. Hypothesized explanations for variation in cancer incidence include earlier viral infection in the country of origin.

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Acknowledgments

The Canadian Population Health Initiative, of the Canadian Institute for Health Information, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Statistics Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) sponsored this study. Data were provided to PHAC by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Statistics Canada and the Quebec Cancer Registry. The authors also wish to acknowledge Mrs. Martha Fair, formerly of Statistics Canada, for her invaluable contribution to the data linkage process for this study.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Jennifer Payne

    Present address: Gender and Health Unit, Regions and Programs Branch, Health Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Innovations and Trends Analysis Division, Strategic Initiatives and Innovations Directorate, Public Health Agency of Canada, 785 Carling Avenue, A.L. 6809B, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0K9, Canada

    Sarah McDermott

  2. Health Determinants and Global Initiatives Division, Strategic Initiatives and Innovations Directorate, Public Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Marie DesMeules

  3. Evidence and Risk Assessment Division, Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Control, Public Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Roxanne Lewis, Jenny Gold, Jennifer Payne & Yang Mao

  4. Health Statistics Division, Statistics Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Bryan Lafrance

  5. School of Nursing Sciences, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Bilkis Vissandjée

  6. Department of Epidemiology and Cancer Registry, CancerCare Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

    Erich Kliewer

  7. Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

    Erich Kliewer

  8. Cancer Control Research, British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Erich Kliewer

  9. Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Yang Mao

Authors
  1. Sarah McDermott
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  2. Marie DesMeules
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  4. Jenny Gold
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  5. Jennifer Payne
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  6. Bryan Lafrance
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  7. Bilkis Vissandjée
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  8. Erich Kliewer
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  9. Yang Mao
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sarah McDermott.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 5.

Table 5 Group of countries
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McDermott, S., DesMeules, M., Lewis, R. et al. Cancer Incidence Among Canadian Immigrants, 1980–1998: Results from a National Cohort Study. J Immigrant Minority Health 13, 15–26 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-010-9347-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-010-9347-3

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