Cancer mortality data collected by the Guam Cancer Registry for the period 1998 through 2002 were analyzedby cancer site, age, and ethnicity. Ethnicity and site specific age-adjusted cancer mortality rates for Guam werecalculated utilizing Guam 2000 census data, the US 2000 standard population and compared to U.S. 2002 ageadjustedcancer mortality rates. Age-adjusted cancer mortality rates for ethnic populations represented on Guam,except those of leukemia and non-Hodgkins lymphoma, were high in relation to other population groups and higherthan U.S. averages. Some highlights include: 1.Chamorros had high age-adjusted mortality rates for mouth andpharynx (247.2 vs. 193.5 U.S.), nasopharynx (9.1 vs. 0.2 U.S.), lung and bronchus (66.9 vs. 54.9 U.S.), colon-rectumanus(28.6 vs. 19.7 U.S.), breast (32.0 vs. 28.0 U.S.) and prostate cancer (40.9 vs. 27.9 U.S.); 2.Chamorros (6.4 vs. 2.5U.S.) and Micronesians (6.3) had high and nearly identical age-adjusted mortality rates for cancer of the mouth andpharynx when nasopharyngeal cancers were excluded; 3.Micronesians had the highest mortality rate for liver cancerover all ethnicities documented (43.5 vs. 4.9 U.S.); 4.Asians had the highest mortality rates for pancreatic (12.5 vs.10.5 U.S.) and cervical cancer (8.5 vs. 2.6 U.S.); 5.Caucasians had the highest mortality rates for leukemia (19.9 vs.7.5 U.S.) and Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (17.6 vs. 7.6 U.S.). Suggestions are made for further research on bothexplaining and ameliorating cancer mortality disparities among ethnic groups on Guam.
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