Cancer is still a very personal fight for millions of families and affects people in ways that statistics alone can’t really show. Besides Really cancer is the top cause of death in Asian American communities – whereas heart disease is the leading cause of death in most other groups – that fact could make the situation that much harder for these communities. A large new project, the ASPIRE study, is now coming up with ways to improve the situation by getting to the bottom of the unique health problems and potential in these different populations.
Coming up with the funding from the National Cancer Institute, the ASPIRE (Asian American Prospective Research) Cohort is probably the largest program to date in trying to figure out cancer disparities among Asian Americans. The scientists from such centers as UC San Francisco, UC Davis, UC Irvine, and others, are attracting thousands of people all over the country, with a particular emphasis on Sacramento where they want to include Vietnamese and Hmong communities. This long-term study is expected to track more than 20,000 people over a period of time, getting their detailed information about lifestyle genetics environment, and other factors that can cause cancer.
The historic value of ASPIRE is its emphasis on disaggregation. Simply, Asian Americans can’t be thought of as one big group; in fact, it comprises more than 40 ethnic subgroups that have very different backgrounds diets migration history, and health patterns. Sometimes, the overall statistics hide the differences. For example, although the overall cancer death rates for Asian Americans may be lower than for Whites, they are much more at risk for liver and stomach cancers, which are linked to factors brought over from the countries of origin like hepatitis B virus. We also have to worry about new issues: the rates of breast cancer, Mainly among younger Asian American women, are quickly rising, and lung cancer in never-smoking Asian American women is still Most of all high.
UCSF’s Dr. Scarlett Gomez and her team talk about how immigration and acculturation can be involved in such a multi-layered way. Based on some research, it is immigrant women who have higher breast cancer risks than US-born women in recent data, which is quite a blow to the older, more typical idea of breast cancer risk and shows how changes in lifestyle – diet, level of physical activity, and exposure to environmental factors – can be combined with genetic predispositions. We hear stories of families from the Bay Area or Sacramento that are losing loved ones to a disease that was too far gone at the time of diagnosis. The reasons for such late diagnosis are often the low rates of screening due to language difficulties, cultural taboos, or the lack of access to care that is culturally appropriate.
The narratives behind the numbers are what make researchers carry on. Picture a Vietnamese woman in Sacramento who is working hard and caring for her family and, at the same time, is worried about her chance of getting liver cancer. Or envision a young Filipino lady who is living her life and suddenly she is diagnosed with thyroid cancer. ASPIRE wants those people to be able to protect themselves from the disease by pointing out the factors that lead to cancer and by enhancing early diagnosis. Besides ASPIRE, other projects like CRANE looking at breast cancer and FANS at lung cancer in never-smokers are offering valuable information and knowledge.
Study members are very thoroughly checked starting from blood samples to filling out highly detailed surveys about diet, family history, and day-to-day activities. The scientists are hopeful that the results will be turned into very specific prevention tools – improved cancer screening rules, training for the masses about the community, and implementation of the changes to the areas concerned – and not general programs. The early signing up in Sacramento has gone very well, as the local health care groups have gained people’s trust through communicating in different languages and by working closely with the community organizations.
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