Lung cancer rates in the Hispanic population of Connecticut, 1980-88

To identify lung cancer patients of Hispanic ethnicity, surnames in the Connecticut Tumor Registry were matched with the 1980 Spanish surname list of the U.S. Bureau of the Census. Also death certificates for women with lung cancer in the registry were examined to ascertain maiden names. For women Hispanic surnames in the registry were not good indicators of ethnicity; their sensitivity was only 58 percent when compared with the decedent's maiden name. Estimated age-specific incidence rates for lung cancer during the 1980-88 period among Hispanic men, using surnames in the registry, were lower than the rates for non-Hispanic men, as expected from studies of Hispanic mortality in the Northeast. The distribution of histologic types, including those most strongly associated with smoking, was similar for Hispanic and non-Hispanic men. Although estimated lung cancer mortality rates were low for Hispanic men defined by surname, higher standard mortality ratios for Puerto Rican-born versus other Hispanic men suggested heterogeneity in lung cancer death rates of the Hispanic population of Connecticut. Lung cancer incidence and mortality rates should continue to be monitored in the Hispanic population of Connecticut, in view of anticipated increases attributable to trends in smoking behavior, and interventions should be planned to counteract anticipated increases.