The risk of cancer for Hispanics increases by 40% when they move to the U.S., according to a new study.
The risks of specific cancers, however, differ widely among the Hispanic subgroups of Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and Mexicans, the researchers also found.
On the positive side, U.S. Hispanics generally have lower cancer incidence than non-Hispanic U.S. whites, says Paulo Pinheiro, MD, PhD, a researcher in the department of epidemiology and public health at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in Florida, who led the study.
“On the negative side, they increase their risk when they come here for the majority of the analyzed [in his study] cancers,” Pinheiro tells WebMD. The study is published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers &Prevention.