Cancer is the Leading Cause of Death Among Latinos, Survey Reveals

Cancer has been considered the leading cause of death among Hispanics in the country, higher than any other cause recorded in 2015.

According to a report published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, Latinos experienced about 125,900 new cases of cancer, as well as cancer-caused deaths not less than 30,000.

These cancer-related Latino deaths are caused by lung tumors among men and breast malignancies in women, reports Saludtoday.

"Death rates are declining for both heart disease, the leading cause of death in the U.S. overall, and cancer, the second leading cause," said Rebecca Siegel, a researcher at the American Cancer Society. "Cancer has already surpassed heart disease as the leading cause of death in Hispanics because of their young age structure."

An estimated 55.4 million Hispanics live in the U.S., comprising about 17 percent of the country's total population. Out of these, about 82 percent are younger than 50, compared to only 60 percent of white people, reports Reuters.

Every year, the American Cancer Society reports health statistics based on data from health agencies. It was found that for all cancers combined, Hispanics have a 20 percent lower incidence rate and 30 percent lower death rate compared to American white people.

This is because Hispanics are less likely than whites to be diagnosed with four of the most common cancers in the U.S., which include breast, prostate, lung and colon cancers. However, they are more likely than whites to be diagnosed with malignancies linked to infectious diseases, such as stomach, cervix, and liver cancers.

The report has estimated that 58,400 new cancer cases and 19,900 deaths in 2015 will be among Hispanic men. Of these new cases, about 13,000 will be prostate tumors, 6,400 will colorectal malignancies and 5,000 will be of the lungs.

One problem, however, that the report has is revolves around it's accuracy in reflecting the entire Latino population. This is because some government forms have only tracked the ethnic group's population recently, and that some of of the patients included in the report might not identify as a Hispanic.

The term Hispanic, according to Dr. Abraham Aragones, was created by the U.S. government for reasons of budget, and is not always used in the Hispanic populace.

Aragones is a researcher in immigrant health and cancer disparities at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York who wasn't involved in the study.

"Many Latinos use their country of origin or ancestry to describe their ethnicity, creating difficulties in interpreting data," he said.