Ethnic differences in the incidence of cancer in Norway

Abstract

Traditionally there have been differences in cancer incidence across geographic regions. When immigrants have moved from low-income to high-income countries, their incidence have changed as they have adapted to the lifestyle in the new host country. Given worldwide changes in lifestyle factors over time, we decided to examine cancer incidence in immigrant groups in Norway, a country with a recent immigration history, complete cancer registration and universal public health care. We linked immigration history for the complete population to information on cancer diagnosis from the Cancer Registry of Norway for the period 1990–2012. Age-standardized (world) overall and site-specific cancer incidence were estimated for different immigrant groups and compared to incidence among individuals born in Norway. Among 850,008 immigrants, 9,158 men and 10,334 women developed cancer, and among 5,508,429 Norwegian-born, 263,316 men and 235,020 women developed cancer. While incidence of breast and colorectal cancer were highest among individuals born in Norway and other high-income countries, other cancer types were higher in immigrants from low-income countries. Lung cancer incidence was highest in Eastern European men, and men and women from Eastern Europe had high incidence of stomach cancer. Incidence of liver cancer was substantially higher in immigrants from low-income countries than in individuals born in Norway and other high-income countries. Our results mirror known cancer challenges across the world. Although cancer incidence overall is lower in immigrants from low-income countries, certain cancers, such as lung, liver and stomach cancer, represent major challenges in specific immigrant groups.