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Ethnic disparities in cancer mortality in the capital and northeast of the State of São Paulo, Brazil 2001–17

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Abstract

Purpose

There is a paucity of studies investigating cancer disparities in groups defined by ethnicity in transitioning economies. We examined the influence of ethnicity on mortality for the leading cancer types in São Paulo, Brazil, comparing patterns in the capital and the northeast of the state.

Methods

Cancer deaths were obtained from a Brazilian public government database for the Barretos region (2003–2017) and the municipality of São Paulo (2001–2015). Age-standardized rates (ASR) per 100,000 persons-years, by cancer type and sex, for five self-declared racial classifications (white, black, eastern origin (Asian), mixed ethnicity (pardo), and indigenous Brazilians), were calculated using the world standard population.

Results

Black Brazilians had higher mortality rates for most common cancer types in Barretos, whereas in São Paulo, white Brazilians had higher rates of mortality from breast, colorectal, and lung cancer. In both regions, lung cancer was the leading cause of cancer death among white, black, and pardo Brazilians, with colorectal cancer deaths leading among Asian Brazilians. Black and pardo Brazilians had higher cervical cancer mortality rates than white Brazilians.

Conclusion

There are substantial disparities in mortality from different cancers in São Paulo according to ethnicity, pointing to inequities in access to health care services.

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Data availability

Cancer mortality data are available from a Brazilian public government database entitled Information System on Mortality, which is part of the Informatics Department of the Unified Health System (DATASUS). Information on ethnicity is available from the Brazilian Demographic Census, a public database of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

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Acknowledgments

We sincerely thank the São Paulo Research Foundation – FAPESP [Grants numbers 2017/03787-2 and 2021/10806-9] for funding this work.

Funding

This work was supported by the São Paulo Research Foundation—FAPESP [Grants numbers 2017/03787–2 and 2021/10806–9].

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cancer Surveillance Branch, International Agency for Research On Cancer, 25 Avenue Tony Garnier, CS 90627, 69366, Lyon Cedex 07, France

    Adeylson Guimarães Ribeiro, Jacques Ferlay, Salvatore Vaccarella & Freddie Bray

  2. Educational and Research Institute, Barretos Cancer Hospital, Barretos, Brazil

    Adeylson Guimarães Ribeiro & José Humberto Tavares Guerreiro Fregnani

  3. School of Public Health, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Maria do Rosário Dias de Oliveira Latorre

  4. A. C. Camargo Cancer Center, São Paulo, Brazil

    José Humberto Tavares Guerreiro Fregnani

Authors
  1. Adeylson Guimarães Ribeiro
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  2. Jacques Ferlay
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  3. Salvatore Vaccarella
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  4. Maria do Rosário Dias de Oliveira Latorre
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  5. José Humberto Tavares Guerreiro Fregnani
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  6. Freddie Bray
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Contributions

Conceptualization: AGR and FB; Methodology: AGR, FB and JF; Formal analysis and investigation: AGR; Writing draft preparation: AGR; Writing review and editing: AGR, FB, JF, SV, MRDOL and JHTGF; Visualization: AGR and FB; Funding acquisition: AGR and JHTGF; Resources: AGR and FB; Supervision: FB; Project Administration: JHTGF and FB.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Adeylson Guimarães Ribeiro.

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Guimarães Ribeiro, A., Ferlay, J., Vaccarella, S. et al. Ethnic disparities in cancer mortality in the capital and northeast of the State of São Paulo, Brazil 2001–17. Cancer Causes Control 35, 523–529 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-023-01812-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-023-01812-w

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