Abstract IA18: Liver cancer among minority populations in the United States

Liver cancer incidence, the dominant histology of which is hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), has been increasing in the U.S. for more than three decades. In comparison with non-Hispanic whites, all other racial/ethnic groups have notably higher incidence rates. For many years, the highest HCC rates occurred among Asians/Pacific Islanders. Recently, however, rates among Asians/Pacific Islanders have declined while rates among all other racial/ethnic groups have increased. As a consequence of the divergent trends, Hispanics are poised to become the group with the highest liver-cancer incidence in the U.S. The group that has seen the greatest increase in rates in the past twenty years, however, is non-Hispanic blacks. By 2030, forecasting models suggest that Hispanics and non-Hispanic blacks will have the highest rates and Asians/Pacific Islanders will have the lowest rates. Among all racial/ethnic groups in the U.S., males have higher rates of liver cancer than females. The male:female ratio varies from a low of 2.5:1 among American Indians/Alaska Natives to a high of 4.1:1 among non-Hispanic blacks. Males also are diagnosed at a younger average age than females, with the least discrepancy in age occurring among non-Hispanic blacks (2.7 years) and the greatest discrepancy in age occurring among Asians/Pacific Islanders (5.9 years). A likely explanation for declining HCC rates among Asian/Pacific Islanders is a declining prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in the population. Likely explanations for the increasing HCC rates in other racial/groups are the high rate of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in prior years and the increased prevalence of obesity/diabetes in the population. An analysis of population-attributable risk among persons of ages 65 and older, however, found differences in attributable risk by racial ethnic group. Among non-Hispanic whites and Hispanics, the dominant risk factor was obesity/diabetes. In contrast, HCV infection was the dominant risk factor among non-Hispanic blacks and Asians/Pacific Islanders. These differences in key factors suggest that cancer prevention strategies should be tailored to each specific racial/ethnic group. Citation Format: Katherine A. McGlynn. Liver cancer among minority populations in the United States [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Tenth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2017 Sep 25-28; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2018;27(7 Suppl):Abstract nr IA18.