A team of researchers at West Virginia University has shown that U.S. immigrants from India and Pakistan take on the habits of their adopted country, increasing their risks of prostate cancer among male immigrants and breast cancer among females.

“Breast cancer and prostate cancer develop due to many reasons, but environmental factors and lifestyle play a major role in these cancers,” said Jame Abraham, M.D., medical director for WVU’s Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center and leader of the research team. “When men and women from India and Pakistan migrate to the United States, their disease profiles change, mirroring the American risk.”

The study, to be published in the Sept. 15 issue of the journal Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal published by American Cancer Society, is the first epidemiological analysis of the Pakistani and Indian immigrant population. The authors looked at data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program of the National Cancer Institute, examining almost 7,000 cases between 1988 and 2003.

In India, the No. 1 cancer among men is cancer of the mouth related to tobacco use, and the No. 1 cancer among women is cancer of the cervix, which could be caused by human papillomavirus (HPV), poor perinatal care and lack of screening and early detection. In the immigrant population, by contrast, the top cancer is prostate cancer for men and breast cancer for women.

The Pakistani and Indian immigrant population in the United States also experiences rising rates of lung and colon cancer, again mirroring U.S. patterns.

Immigrants have been shown to embrace the Western lifestyle of marrying later, having fewer children, getting less exercise and adopting a diet higher in fat, alcohol and meat, and lower in fiber.

“We need to educate the immigrant population about risk factors as well as preventive measures they can take to reduce their risk of prostate, breast cancer, lung cancer and colon cancer,” Dr. Abraham said.

Immigrants from India and Pakistan make up about 1.5 percent of the U.S. population. They experience a better survival rate from cancer compared with the non-Hispanic white U.S. population.

Abraham’s coauthors are Akm Hossain, M.D. and Aasim Sehbai, M.D., also with the WVU Cancer Center, and Rachel Abraham, M.D., of the WVU School of Medicine’s Department of Community Medicine.

Source: West Virginia University Health Sciences Center