• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Sunday, September 7, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Cancer

Native Hawaiians at far greater risk for pancreatic cancer

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
June 3, 2019
in Cancer
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

Twenty years of data reveal surprising disparities

Native Hawaiians are at highest risk for pancreatic cancer, according to a USC study that provides a surprising look at disparities surrounding the deadly disease.

The findings — published May 8 in the journal Cancer Medicine — could help focus efforts to prevent pancreatic cancer, which will kill an estimated 45,750 people in the United States this year.

The study shows:

  • Native Hawaiians have a 60% increased risk for pancreatic cancer, compared to European Americans.
  • Japanese Americans have a 33% increased risk for pancreatic cancer, compared to European Americans.
  • African Americans have a 20% increased risk for pancreatic cancer, compared to European Americans.

“The greater risks in Native Hawaiians and Japanese Americans, compared to whites — in addition to the already reported increased risk in African Americans — are new, important findings,” said senior author Veronica Wendy Setiawan, associate professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. “This study underscores the importance of studying diverse populations in cancer research.”

For the research, scientists turned to the Multiethnic Cohort Study, established in 1993-1996 by USC and the University of Hawaii to investigate patterns in cancer incidence. The study includes more than 215,000 people recruited from Los Angeles County and Hawaii. The main ethnic groups represented are European American, African American, Latino American, Japanese American and Native Hawaiian.

Participants completed self-administered questionnaires, which included information on demographics, medical conditions, family history of cancer and lifestyle factors. Individuals were excluded if they had a prior pancreatic cancer diagnosis or were missing information integral to the study.

The resulting group numbered 184,559 individuals: 100,969 females and 83,590 males. The largest racial/ethnic group was Japanese Americans (29%), followed by European Americans (25.1%), Latino Americans (22%), African Americans (16.7%) and Native Hawaiians (7.3%).

There were 1,532 cases of pancreatic cancer over an average follow-up period of 16.9 years. The researchers took into account family history of pancreatic cancer, diabetes, smoking, body mass index, alcohol and red meat consumption. They said 20% of the cases could be attributed to smoking, obesity and red meat intake.

The study doesn’t answer why certain groups are more at risk but it did make a number of observations about risk factors, including:

  • Family history of pancreatic cancer was slightly more prevalent in Japanese Americans.
  • Native Hawaiians and African Americans were more likely to be current smokers.
  • Diabetes mellitus was more common in African Americans, Latino Americans and Native Hawaiians.
  • Red meat intake was highest among African Americans, Latino Americans and Native Hawaiians.

“Our results show that African Americans are not the only minority populations with increased risk of pancreatic cancer,” Setiawan said. She added that Latinos and whites are at similar risk.

Approximately 56,770 people — roughly 12.9 per 100,000 people — will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the United States in 2019, according to the National Cancer Institute. There are no symptoms in the early stages; it is often detected late and has a poor prognosis.

###

In addition to Setiawan, the study authors are Daniel Stram, Christopher Haiman and Kristine Monroe, all of the Keck School of Medicine of USC; Brian Huang and Zuo-Feng Zhang of UCLA; Loic Le Marchand and Lynne Wilkens of University of Hawaii Cancer Center; and Stephen Pandol of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Department of Veterans Affairs in Los Angeles.

The work was supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute (RO1CA209798, T32CA009142 and UO1CA164973) and the American Cancer Society (RSG-16-250-01- CPHPS).

Media Contact
Leigh Hopper
[email protected]
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cam4.2209

Tags: cancerDiabetesEpidemiologyMedicine/HealthPublic Health
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Promising Outcomes from First-in-Human Trial of DLL3-Targeted Antibody-Drug Conjugate SHR-4849 in Relapsed Small Cell Lung Cancer

September 7, 2025

Phase 2 IDeate-Lung01 Trial Shows Ifinatamab Deruxtecan Achieves High Response Rates in Previously Treated Extensive-Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer

September 7, 2025

Zidesamtinib Demonstrates Lasting Efficacy in ROS1 TKI-Pretreated NSCLC, Including Cases with CNS Involvement and ROS1 G2032R Mutations

September 7, 2025

Crizotinib Does Not Enhance Disease-Free Survival in Resected Early-Stage ALK-Positive NSCLC

September 7, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • blank

    Breakthrough in Computer Hardware Advances Solves Complex Optimization Challenges

    150 shares
    Share 60 Tweet 38
  • New Drug Formulation Transforms Intravenous Treatments into Rapid Injections

    116 shares
    Share 46 Tweet 29
  • First Confirmed Human Mpox Clade Ib Case China

    56 shares
    Share 22 Tweet 14
  • A Laser-Free Alternative to LASIK: Exploring New Vision Correction Methods

    47 shares
    Share 19 Tweet 12

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

ECG Insights on Stress in Scorpion Mud Turtle

Gender Variations in Microglial Stress Response Uncovered

Nitric Oxide Knockdown Affects GABA Neuron Metabolism in Rats

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.