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Breast Cancer Amongst Filipino Migrants: A Review of the Literature and Ten-Year Institutional Analysis

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Abstract

As one migrates from an area of low to high incidence of breast cancer their personal risk of developing breast cancer increases. This is however not equally distributed across all races and ethnicities. This paper specifically examines Filipino migrants. A literature review was conducted to summarize breast cancer incidence, screening practices and trends in treatment amongst Filipino migrants. In addition, a retrospective cohort study was conducted specifically examining the age in which Filipino women were diagnosed with breast cancer compared to Asian and Caucasian counterparts. Filipino women are diagnosed with breast cancer at a statistically significant younger age (53.2) compared to their Asian (55.1) and Caucasian (58.4) counterparts. In addition, they are at an increased risk of developing more aggressive breast cancer with noteworthy disparities in the care they are receiving. The evidence suggest this group is worthy of special focus when diagnosing and treating breast cancer.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, St. Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto, 30 Bond Street, Toronto, ON, M5B1W8, Canada

    Jory S. Simpson, Kaleigh Briggs & Ralph George

Authors
  1. Jory S. Simpson
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  2. Kaleigh Briggs
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  3. Ralph George
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jory S. Simpson.

Appendix: Review of Literature Search Terms

Appendix: Review of Literature Search Terms

Search for: remove duplicates from 19 [11, 18] Results: 125Database: Ovid MEDLINE(R) In-Process and Other Non-Indexed Citations and Ovid MEDLINE(R) <1946 to Present>Search Strategy:

  1. 1

    exp Breast Neoplasms/(202477)

  2. 2

    (breast adj2 neoplasm$).mp. [mp = title, abstract, original title, name of substance word, subject heading word, protocol supplementary concept, rare disease supplementary concept, unique identifier] (202114)

  3. 3

    (breast adj2 cancer$).mp. [mp = title, abstract, original title, name of substance word, subject heading word, protocol supplementary concept, rare disease supplementary concept, unique identifier] (159596)

  4. 4

    exp Breast Neoplasms, Male/(2048)

  5. 5

    exp Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast/(10612)

  6. 6

    exp “Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Syndrome”/(17)

  7. 7

    exp Inflammatory Breast Neoplasms/(121)

  8. 8

    (breast adj2 carcinoma$).mp. [mp = title, abstract, original title, name of substance word, subject heading word, protocol supplementary concept, rare disease supplementary concept, unique identifier] (32767)

  9. 9

    exp Genes, BRCA1/or BRCA1.mp. (9591)

  10. 10

    exp Genes, BRCA2/or BRCA2.mp. (6016)

  11. 11

    or/1-10 (243012)

  12. 12

    exp Philippines/(5780)

  13. 13

    philipin$.mp. (25)

  14. 14

    filipino$.mp. (2017)

  15. 15

    filipina$.mp. (139)

  16. 16

    tagalog.mp. (37)

  17. 17

    pinoy.mp. (6)

  18. 18

    or/12-17 (6738)

  19. 19

    11 and 18 (131)

  20. 20

    remove duplicates from 19 (125)

EmbaseDatabase: Embase Classic + Embase <1947 to 2012 Week 52>Search Strategy:

  1. 1

    exp breast tumor/(370103)

  2. 2

    [breast adj2 (neoplasm$ or cancer or tumo?r$)].ti,ab. (243211)

  3. 3

    (Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Syndrome).mp. [mp = title, abstract, subject headings, heading word, drug trade name, original title, device manufacturer, drug manufacturer, device trade name, keyword] (271)

  4. 4

    exp BRCA2 protein/or exp breast cancer/or gene mutation/or exp BRCA1 protein/(559206)

  5. 5

    breast carcinoma.mp. or exp breast carcinoma/(67642)

  6. 6

    1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 (647205)

  7. 7

    exp philippines/(7874)

  8. 8

    philippine.ti,ab. (1785)

  9. 9

    exp Filipino/(1214)

  10. 10

    Filipin$.ti,ab. (4463)

  11. 11

    tagalog.mp. (53)

  12. 12

    pinoy$.ti,ab. (17)

  13. 13

    or/7-12 (12232)

  14. 14

    6 and 13 (326)

  15. 15

    limit 14 to female (192)

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Simpson, J.S., Briggs, K. & George, R. Breast Cancer Amongst Filipino Migrants: A Review of the Literature and Ten-Year Institutional Analysis. J Immigrant Minority Health 17, 729–736 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-015-0168-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-015-0168-2

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