Cancer Incidence and Mortality in the Caribbean

Abstract

Cancer incidence and mortality in the Caribbean generally follow known patterns of association with economic development, infectious agents, and racial/ethnic origin. Studying these patterns and how immigration changes them may yield clues to cancer etiology. A better understanding of cancer incidence and mortality rates may help health policymakers to implement state-of-the-art treatment and preventive services for people of Caribbean descent both in their native countries and in immigrant communities in the United States.

EPIYA motif patterns among Cuban Helicobacter pylori CagA positive strains

“…Therefore, accurate detection of the EPIYA pattern may become a useful prognostic tool for gastric malignancy due to H. pylori infection. Despite the relevance of TPM patterns in CagA protein as virulence markers, there are not reports about the EPIYA types among Cuban H. pylori isolates, or from strains isolated in the Caribbean region, despite that gastric cancer death rate varies significantly between countries in this region (21). In this disease, the highest mortality rates are exhibited by the Haitian males and Jamaican females with 25.1/100 000 and 11.6/100 000, respectively, while 9.7 and 5.6/100 000 are the lowest rates in the area, reported for Cuban males and females, respectively (21,http://www.…”

Antigua/Barbuda Cancer Incidence Study

“…Similar doubling of incidences in women was also observed for cancers of the cervix uteri (24 vs 12), ovary (6 vs 1), corpus uterus (8 vs 4), bowel (10 vs 3) and kidney/bladder (6 vs 3), while the same was observed for men with respect to the bowel (11 vs 0.5). Lung cancer continues to show a very low incidence (ASR 1.67 men, 0.54 women), which is below the low rates of the English-speaking Caribbean (6).…”

Antigua/Barbuda Cancer Mortality Study

“…It Increased mortality from prostate cancer represents the most significant change over this time period, and may be reflective of an ageing population, inadequate treatment, late clinical stage at diagnosis, or a combination of the three (7,8). This cancer ranks highest among the causes of cancer mortality in Antigua and Barbuda, and in the region (9,10).…”