Abstract
This study compares cancer mortality and incidence of ethnic German migrants from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) in Germany. Data were obtained from two migrant cohorts residing in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) (n = 34,393) and Saarland (n = 18,619). Vital status of the NRW cohort was ascertained through local population registries. Causes of death were obtained from the NRW statistical office or from local health offices. Cancer incidence of the Saarland cohort was derived from the Saarland cancer registry using record linkage. From 1990 to 2005, we observed 708 cancer deaths and 586 incident cancer cases. In males, both cancer incidence and cancer mortality were similar to the German population. Female cancer incidence and mortality were lower, the latter significantly. Site-specific standardized mortality and incidence ratios showed great variation in comparison to Germans and were remarkably similar to each other for most sites. Lung cancer was elevated among males, but lower among females. Stomach cancer was higher contrasting with lower ratios for prostate cancer, male colorectal cancer, and female breast cancer. Results confirm that FSU-migrants suffer from cancers, which may be prevented by prevention programs. Furthermore, we cannot conclude a different health-seeking behavior compared to Germans.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Swerdlow AJ (1991) Mortality and cancer incidence in Vietnamese refugees in England and Wales: a follow-up study. Int J Epidemiol 20:13–19
Razum O, Zeeb H, Beck K, Becher H, Ziegler H, Stegmaier C (2000) Combining a name algorithm with a capture–recapture method to retrieve cases of Turkish descent from a German population-based cancer registry. Eur J Cancer 36:2380–2384
Stirbu I, Kunst AE, Vlems FA et al (2006) Cancer mortality rates among first and second generation migrants in the Netherlands: convergence toward the rates of the native Dutch population. Int J Cancer 119:2665–2672
Tyczyński J, Tarkowski W, Parkin DM, Zatoński W (1994) Cancer mortality among Polish migrants to Australia. Eur J Cancer 30A:478–484
Zeeb H, Razum O, Blettner M, Stegmaier C (2002) Transition in cancer patterns among Turks residing in Germany. Eur J Cancer 38:705–711
Marmot MG, Adelstein AM, Bulusu L (1984) Lessons from the study of immigrant mortality. Lancet i:1455–1457
McKeigue PM, Miller GJ, Marmot MG (1989) Coronary heart disease in South Asians overseas—a review. J Clin Epidemiol 42:597–609
McKeigue PM, Shah B, Marmot MG (1991) Relation of central obesity and insulin resistance with high diabetes prevalence and cardiovascular risk in South Asians. Lancet 337:382–386
Grulich AE, Swerdlow AJ, Head J, Marmot MG (1992) Cancer mortality in African and Caribbean migrants to England and Wales. Br J Cancer 66:905–911
Becher H, Razum O, Kyobutungi C et al. (2007) Mortalität von Aussiedlern aus der ehemaligen Sovietunion: Ergebnisse einer Kohortenstudie. Deutsches Ärzteblatt 23: A-1655–A-1662. (English version available at http://www.aerzteblatt.de/int/article.asp?id=58120)
Ronellenfitsch U, Kyobutungi C, Becher H, Razum O (2006) All-cause and cardiovascular mortality among ethnic German immigrants from the Former Soviet Union: a cohort study. BMC Public Health 6:16
Ott JJ, Winkler V, Kyobutungi C, Laki J, Becher H (2008) Effects of residential changes and time patterns on external cause mortality in migrants: results of a German cohort study. Scand J Public Health 36:524–531
Ott JJ, Paltiel AM, Winkler V, Becher H (2008) Chronic disease mortality associated with infectious agents: new challenges observed in a cohort study on migrants from the FSU. BMC Public Health 8:110
Kyobutungi C, Ronellenfitsch U, Razum O, Becher H (2006) Mortality from cancer among ethnic German immigrants from the Former Soviet Union, in Germany. Eur J Cancer 42:2577–2584
Fritschi L, Hoving JL, Sim MR et al (2008) All cause mortality and incidence of cancer in workers in bauxite mines and alumina refineries. Int J Cancer 123:882–887
Gun RT, Pratt N, Ryan P, Roder D (2006) Update of mortality and cancer incidence in the Australian petroleum industry cohort. Occup Environ Med 63:476–481
Lundberg I, Milatou-Smith R (1998) Mortality and cancer incidence among Swedish paint industry workers with long-term exposure to organic solvents. Scand J Work Environ Health 24:270–275
Thomas DB, Karagas MR (1987) Cancer in first and second generation Americans. Cancer Res 47:5771–5776
Warshauer ME, Silverman DT, Schottenfeld D, Pollack ES (1986) Stomach and colorectal cancers in Puerto Rican-born residents of New York City. J Natl Cancer Inst 76:591–595
Ronellenfitsch U, Kyobutungi C, Becher H, Razum O (2004) Large-scale population-based epidemiological studies with record linkage can be done in Germany. Eur J Epidemiol 19:1073–1074
Kyobutungi C (2008) Ethnic German immigrants from the former Soviet Union: mortality from external causes and cancers. In: Razum O (ed) Challenges in public health, vol 53. Peter Lang Verlag, Frankfurt
Klug SJ, Zeeb H, Blettner M (2003) Neue Möglichkeit der Recherche von Todesursachen in Deutschland über Statistische Landesämter am Beispiel einer retrospektiven Kohortenstudie. Gesundheitswesen 65:243–249
World Health Organization (2007) Regional office for Europe. Mortality database. [cited 2007 Jul 21] Available from: http://www.who.int/whosis/mort/download/en/index.html
Winkler V (2008) Specific aspects of the health profile in ethnic German migrants from the Former Soviet Union. PhD Thesis submitted to the Medical Faculty of Heidelberg University
Saarland cancer registry (2008) Interactive database [cited 2008 Jan 2] Available from: http://www.krebsregister.saarland.de/datenbank/datenbank.html
Breslow NE, Day NE (1987) Rates and rate standardization. In: Statistical methods in cancer research: volume II-the design and analysis of cohort studies. International Agency for Research on Cancer. IARC Scientific Publications, Lyon, pp 48–79
SAS Institute Inc (2004) SAS/STAT Software Release 9.1. SAS Institute Inc, Cary
World Health Organisation (2007) European health for all database. WHO Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen. [cited 2007 Jul 21] Available from: http://data.euro.who.int/hfadb/
Robert Koch Institut und die Gesellschaft der epidemiologischen Krebsregister in Deutschland e.V. [Cancer in Germany 2003–2004. Occurence and Trends] [German] Krebs in Deutschland 2003–2004 Häufigkeiten und Trends. 6. überarbeitete Auflage. Berlin, 2008
Gonzalez CA, Pera G, Agudo A et al (2006) Fruit and vegetable intake and the risk of stomach and oesophagus adenocarcinoma in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC-EURGAST). Int J Cancer 118:2559–2566
Kono S, Hirohata T (1996) Nutrition and stomach cancer. Cancer Causes Control 7:41–55
Zaridze D, Borisova E, Maximovitch D, Chkhikvadze V (2000) Alcohol consumption, smoking and risk of gastric cancer: case–control study from Moscow, Russia. Cancer Causes Control 11:363–371
Key TJ, Schatzkin A, Willett WC, Allen NE, Spencer EA, Travis RC (2004) Diet, nutrition and the prevention of cancer. Public Health Nutr 7:187–200
MacLennan R (1997) Diet and colorectal cancer. Int J Cancer 10:10–12
Martinez ME (2005) Primary prevention of colorectal cancer: lifestyle, nutrition, exercise. Recent Results Cancer Res 166:177–211
Michaud DS (2004) Epidemiology of pancreatic cancer. Minerva Chir 59:99–111
Aparicio ML, Döring A, Mielck A, Holle R, KORA Studiengruppe (2005) Differences between Eastern European immigrants of German origin and the rest of the German population in health status health care use and health behaviour: a comparative study using data from the KORA-Survey 2000. Soz Praventivmed 50:107–118
Wittig U, Merbach M, Siefen RG, Brähler E (2004) Complaints and health care system utilisation of ethnic German migrants from the Former Soviet Union to Germany and their families. Gesundheitswesen 66:85–92
Brenner H, Stegmaier C, Ziegler H (1994) Estimating completeness of cancer registration in Saarland/Germany with capture-recapture methods. Eur J Cancer 30A:1659–1663
Haberland J, Schön D, Bertz J, Görsch B (2003) Vollzähligkeitsschätzungen von Krebsregisterdaten in Deutschland. Bundesgesundheitsbl-Gesundheitsforsch-Gesundheitsschutz 46:770–774
Parkin DM, Whelan SL, Ferlay J, Teppo L, Thomas DB (eds) (2002) Cancer incidence in five continents. IARC Sci Publ VIII: 352–353
Acknowledgments
The study was funded by a grant of the German Research Foundation, Graduate College 793: “Epidemiology of communicable and chronic noncommunicable diseases and their interrelationships.”
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Winkler, V., Ott, J.J., Holleczek, B. et al. Cancer profile of migrants from the Former Soviet Union in Germany: incidence and mortality. Cancer Causes Control 20, 1873–1879 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-009-9381-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-009-9381-4