Cancer among the foreign-born in New York State

Cancer deaths among white, foreign-born residents of New York State (exclusive of New York City) during the years 1969 through 1971 were analyzed according to country of birth. The largest numbers of immigrants came from Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Poland, Italy, USSR, and Canada. Several distinctive features emerged from these data: Irish immigrants have an increased risk of dying from oropharyngeal, gastrointestinal, lung, and prostate cancers. Among all migrant groups studied, contrasting mortality patterns observed for carcinomas of the stomach, colon, and rectum provide further support for the concept that these neoplasms result from different etiologic processes. For the leukemias, lymphomas, and carcinomas of the breast and colon, each of the migrant groups acquired the higher risk common to others in the host country. This rise in risk suggests a major environmental component for cancers of these sites.