Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Neighborhood Contexts and Breast Cancer Among Asian American Women

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background: This study examines how neighborhood socioeconomic status (nSES) and ethnic composition are associated with breast cancer risk for Asian American women. Methods: We linked individual level data from a population-based case–control study of breast cancer among Asian American women with neighborhood level data in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area (cases: n = 118, controls: n = 390). Multivariable logistic regression models examined the association between nSES, ethnic composition, and odds of having breast cancer. Results: Asian American women living in neighborhoods with high nSES and high ethnic composition had the highest odds of breast cancer, compared to those living in neighborhoods with high nSES and low ethnic composition (OR = 0.34, 95% CI [0.16–0.75]) or in neighborhoods with low nSES and high ethnic composition (OR = 0.37, 95% CI [0.17–0.83]). Discussion: Neighborhood socioeconomic and ethnic contexts are associated with breast cancer for Asian American women. We discuss explanations and avenues for future research.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Gomez SL, Von Behren J, McKinley M, Clarke CA, Shariff-Marco S, Cheng I, et al. Breast cancer in Asian Americans in California, 1988–2013: increasing incidence trends and recent data on breast cancer subtypes. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2017;164:139–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Morey BN, Gee GC, von Ehrenstein OS, Shariff-Marco S, Canchola AJ, Yang J, et al. Higher breast cancer risk among immigrant Asian American Women than among US-born Asian American Women. Prev Chronic Dis. 2019;16:E20–E20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Torre LA, Sauer AMG, Chen MS, Kagawa-Singer M, Jemal A, Siegel RL. Cancer statistics for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, 2016: converging incidence in males and females. CA Cancer J Clin. 2016;66:182–202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Conroy SM, Shariff-Marco S, Koo J, Yang J, Keegan THM, Sangaramoorthy M, et al. Racial/ethnic differences in the impact of neighborhood social and built environment on breast cancer risk: the neighborhoods and breast cancer study. Cancer Epidemiol Biomark Amp Prev [Internet]. 2017; Available from: http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/content/early/2017/03/20/1055-9965.EPI-16-0935.abstract

  5. Keegan THM, John EM, Fish KM, Alfaro-Velcamp T, Clarke CA, Gomez SL. Breast cancer incidence patterns among California Hispanic women: differences by nativity and residence in an enclave. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2010;19:1208–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Akinyemiju TF, Genkinger JM, Farhat M, Wilson A, Gary-Webb TL, Tehranifar P. Residential environment and breast cancer incidence and mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Cancer. 2015;15:191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Conroy SM, Clarke CA, Yang J, Shariff-Marco S, Shvetsov YB, Park S-Y, et al. Contextual impact of neighborhood obesogenic factors on postmenopausal breast cancer: the multiethnic cohort. Cancer Epidemiol Biomark Amp Prev [Internet]. 2017; Available from: http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/content/early/2017/03/20/1055-9965.EPI-16-0941.abstract

  8. Robert SA, Strombom I, Trentham-Dietz A, Hampton JM, McElroy JA, Newcomb PA, et al. Socioeconomic risk factors for breast cancer distinguishing individual-and community-level effects. Epidemiology. 2004;15:442–50. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.ede.0000129512.61698.03.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Palmer JR, Boggs DA, Wise LA, Adams-Campbell LL, Rosenberg L. Individual and neighborhood socioeconomic status in relation to breast cancer incidence in African-American Women. Am J Epidemiol. 2012;176:1141–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Schlichting JA, Soliman AS, Schairer C, Banerjee M, Rozek LS, Schottenfeld D, et al. Association of inflammatory and noninflammatory breast cancer with socioeconomic characteristics in the surveillance, epidemiology, and end results database, 2000–2007. Cancer Epidemiol Biomark Prev Publ Am Assoc Cancer Res Cosponsored Am Soc Prev Oncol. 2012;21:155–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Borugian MJ, Spinelli JJ, Abanto Z, Xu CL, Wilkins R. Breast cancer incidence and neighbourhood income. Health Rep Canada. 2011;22:7–13.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Eschbach K, Mahnken JD, Goodwin JS. Neighborhood composition and incidence of cancer among Hispanics in the United States. Cancer. 2005;103:1036–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Mobley LR, Kuo T-M, Scott L, Rutherford Y, Bose S. Modeling geospatial patterns of late-stage diagnosis of breast cancer in the US. Int J Enbironmental Res Public Health. 2017;14:484.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Froment M-A, Gomez SL, Roux A, DeRouen MC, Kidd EA. Impact of socioeconomic status and ethnic enclave on cervical cancer incidence among Hispanics and Asians in California. Gynecol Oncol. 2014;133:409–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Gomez SL, Shariff-Marco S, DeRouen M, Keegan THM, Yen IH, Mujahid M, et al. The impact of neighborhood social and built environment factors across the cancer continuum: CURRENT research, methodological considerations, and future directions. Cancer. 2015;121:2314–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Walton E. Resurgent ethnicity among Asian Americans: ethnic neighborhood context and health. J Health Soc Behav. 2012;53:378–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Wen M, Lauderdale DS, Kandula NR. Ethnic neighborhoods in multi-ethnic America, 1990–2000: resurgent ethnicity in the ethnoburbs? Soc Forces. 2009;88:425–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Anderson KN, Schwab RB, Martinez ME. Reproductive risk factors and breast cancer subtypes: a review of the literature. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2014;144:1–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Aune D, Chan DSM, Vieira AR, Rosenblatt DAN, Vieira R, Greenwood DC, et al. Fruits, vegetables and breast cancer risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2012;134:479–93.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Vahabi M, Lofters A, Kumar M, Glazier RH. Breast cancer screening disparities among urban immigrants: a population-based study in Ontario. Canada BMC Public Health. 2015;15:679.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Wong CK, Horn-Ross PL, Gee GC, Shariff-Marco S, Quach T, Allen L, et al. Strategies for recruiting representative samples of Asian Americans for a population-based case-control study. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2016. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2015-206905.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. U.S. Census Bureau. 2010 Census Data. 2010; Available from: http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data/

  23. Texas A&M Geoservices. Free Texas A&M Geoservices Desktop Geocoding Client. Texas A&M University; 2013.

  24. Gomez SL, Glaser SL, McClure LA, Shema SJ, Kealey M, Keegan THM, et al. The California neighborhoods data system: a new resource for examining the impact of neighborhood characteristics on cancer incidence and outcomes in populations. Cancer Causes Control. 2011;22:631–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Yang J, Schupp CW, Harrati A, Clarke C, Keegan THM, Gomez SL. Developing an area-based socioeconomic measure from American Community Survey data [Internet]. Fremont, CA: Cancer Prevention Institute of California; 2014. Available from: https://cancerregistry.ucsf.edu/sites/cancerregistry.ucsf.edu/files/wysiwyg/Yang%20et%20al.%202014_CPIC_ACS_SES_Index_Documentation_3-10-2014.pdf

  26. Chang ET, Yang J, Alfaro-Velcamp T, So SKS, Glaser SL, Gomez SL. Disparities in liver cancer incidence by nativity, acculturation, and socioeconomic status in California Hispanics and Asians. Cancer Epidemiol Biomark Amp Prev. 2010;19:3106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. DeRouen MC, Schupp CW, Koo J, Yang J, Hertz A, Shariff-Marco S, et al. Impact of individual and neighborhood factors on disparities in prostate cancer survival. Cancer Epidemiol. 2018;53:1–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Von Behren J, Abrahão R, Goldberg D, Gomez SL, Setiawan VW, Cheng I. The influence of neighborhood socioeconomic status and ethnic enclave on endometrial cancer mortality among Hispanics and Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in California. Cancer Causes Control. 2018;29:875–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Li CI, Beaber EF, Tang M-TC, Porter PL, Daling JR, Malone KE. Reproductive factors and risk of estrogen receptor positive, triple-negative, and HER2-neu overexpressing breast cancer among women 20–44 years of age. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2013;137:579–87.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Palmer JR, Boggs DA, Wise LA, Ambrosone CB, Adams-Campbell LL, Rosenberg L. Parity and lactation in relation to estrogen receptor negative breast cancer in African American Women. Cancer Epidemiol Biomark Amp Prev. 2011;20:1883.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Cheraghi Z, Poorolajal J, Hashem T, Esmailnasab N, Doosti IA. Effect of body mass index on breast cancer during premenopausal and postmenopausal periods: a meta-analysis. PLoS One. 2012;7:e51446.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Chlebowski RT. Nutrition and physical activity influence on breast cancer incidence and outcome. St Gallen 2013 Proc Book. 2013;22:S30–7.

  33. Duncan DT, Aldstadt J, Whalen J, Melly SJ, Gortmaker SL. Validation of Walk Score® for estimating neighborhood walkability: an analysis of four US metropolitan areas. Int J Env Res Public Health. 2011;8:4160–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Hirsch JA, Moore KA, Clarke PJ, Rodriguez DA, Evenson KR, Brines SJ, et al. Changes in the built environment and changes in the amount of walking over time: longitudinal results from the multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis. Am J Epidemiol. 2014;180:799–809.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Tukey JW. Exploratory data analysis. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley; 1977.

    Google Scholar 

  36. StataCorp. Stata Statistical Software: Release 15. College Station, TX: StataCorp LLC; 2017.

  37. Kohler U, Karlson KB, Holm A. Comparing coefficients of nested nonlinear probability models. Stata J. 2011;11:420–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Gomez SL, Quach T, Horn-Ross PL, Pham JT, Cockburn M, Chang ET, et al. Hidden breast cancer disparities in Asian women: disaggregating incidence rates by ethnicity and migrant status. Am J Public Health. 2010;100(Suppl 1):S125–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Nodora JN, Gallo L, Cooper R, Wertheim BC, Natarajan L, Thompson PA, et al. Reproductive and Hormonal Risk Profile According to Language Acculturation and Country of Residence in the Ella Binational Breast Cancer Study. J Womens Health. Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers; 2014;23:532–40.

  40. Rudel RA, Fenton SE, Ackerman JM, Euling SY, Makris SL. Environmental exposures and mammary gland development: State of the science, public health implications, and research recommendations. Environ Health Perspect Environ Health Perspect. 2011;119:1053–61.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  41. Niehoff NM, White AJ, Sandler DP. Childhood and teenage physical activity and breast cancer risk. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2017;164:697–705.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  42. Fang CY, Tseng M. Ethnic density and cancer: A review of the evidence. Cancer. Wiley; 2018;124:1877–903.

  43. Walton E. Making sense of Asian American ethnic neighborhoods. Sociol Perspect. 2015;58:490–515.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Suro R, Tafoya SM. Dispersal and concentration: patterns of Latino residential settlement. Washington DC: Pew Hispanic Center ; 2004.

    Google Scholar 

  45. Williams DR, Mohammed SA, Shields AE. Understanding and effectively addressing breast cancer in African American women: unpacking the social context. Cancer. 2016;122:2138–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Pamela Horn-Ross, Dr. Thu Quach, Trish La Chica, Asian Community Health Initiative staff members, community collaborators, and study participants.

Funding

This study was funded by the University of California Los Angeles 2016–2017 Dissertation Year Fellowship and the University of California Riverside 2017–2019 Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship received by Brittany N. Morey. Data collection and analyses were funded by a grant from the California Breast Cancer Research Program (17UB-8602). The collection of cancer incidence data was supported by the California Department of Public Health as part of the statewide cancer reporting program mandated by California Health and Safety Code Section 103885; the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program under contract HHSN261201000140C awarded to the Cancer Prevention Institute of California, contract HHSN261201000035C awarded to the University of Southern California, and contract HHSN261201000034C awarded to the Public Health Institute; and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Program of Cancer Registries, under agreement U58DP003862-01 awarded to the California Department of Public Health. The ideas and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors. Endorsement by the State of California Department of Public Health, the National Cancer Institute, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or their Contractors and Subcontractors is not intended nor inferred.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Program of Public Health, Department of Health, Society, & Behavior, University of California Irvine, 653 E. Peltason Dr., Anteater Instruction and Research Building 2022, Irvine, CA, 92697-3957, USA

    Brittany N. Morey

  2. Fielding School of Public Health, Department of Community Health Sciences, University of California Los Angeles, 650 Charles E. Young Dr. South, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    Gilbert C. Gee, May C. Wang & Ondine S. von Ehrenstein

  3. Fielding School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology, University of California Los Angeles, 650 Charles E. Young Dr. South, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    Ondine S. von Ehrenstein

  4. Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco, 550 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA

    Salma Shariff-Marco, Alison J. Canchola, Juan Yang & Scarlett Lin Gomez

  5. Division of Ethics, Department of Medical Humanities and Ethics, Columbia University, 630 West 168th Street, PH 1525, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    Sandra S.-J. Lee

  6. Rise Up Solutions, San Ramon, CA, 94583, USA

    Roxanna Bautista

  7. School of Public Health Division of Community Health Sciences, University of California Berkeley, 2121 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    Winston Tseng

  8. Council for the International Exchange of Scholars (CIES), Washington, DC, 20005, USA

    Pancho Chang

Authors
  1. Brittany N. Morey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Gilbert C. Gee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. May C. Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ondine S. von Ehrenstein
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Salma Shariff-Marco
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Alison J. Canchola
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Juan Yang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Sandra S.-J. Lee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Roxanna Bautista
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Winston Tseng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Pancho Chang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Scarlett Lin Gomez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Brittany N. Morey.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

Aside from the funding sources reported above, authors have no additional conflicts of interest or competing interests to report.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Morey, B.N., Gee, G.C., Wang, M.C. et al. Neighborhood Contexts and Breast Cancer Among Asian American Women. J Immigrant Minority Health 24, 445–454 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-021-01196-6

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-021-01196-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation