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Nasopharyngeal carcinoma in non‐chinese populations with special reference to South‐East Asia and Africa
Author(s) -
Muir C. S.
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
international journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.475
H-Index - 234
eISSN - 1097-0215
pISSN - 0020-7136
DOI - 10.1002/ijc.2910080302
Subject(s) - mongoloid , demography , incidence (geometry) , ethnic group , nasopharyngeal carcinoma , population , east asia , china , geography , medicine , physics , archaeology , sociology , anthropology , optics , radiation therapy
Nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) is very common in Chinese, the incidence rates (age‐adjusted to the “world” population distribution) per 100,000 per annum varying between 10 to 20 for males and 5 to 10 for females. In virtually all occidental countries, the rates are very low, generally well below 1.0 per 100,000 per annum. The evidence suggesting intermediate levels of risk in certain non‐Chinese mongoloid populations in South‐East Asia, in the Sudan and the Maghreb, is examined. Although whenever possible incidence rates are quoted, most of the available data are based on relative frequency series, often with rather small numbers. Rare in Japan and India, NPC is fairly common in non‐Chinese mongoloid groups in South‐East Asia. NPC incidence in Tunisia is raised, and the relative frequency is probably raised in the Sudan and Algeria. NPC is probably not unduly common in Kenya or Uganda but there are differences between ethnic groups in these countries which may be related to environmental factors. NPC incidence in Hawaii is raised for all ethnic groups, the rate for male Hawaiians (7.8) approaching that for male Chinese (10.4). In Israel, the incidence in the non‐Jewish (Arab) population and in Jews born in Africa or Asia (many of whom were born in Morocco or Tunisia) is higher than in Israel‐born Jews or in Jews born in America or Europe. The effect of intermarriage with Chinese is examined. There is a general trend suggesting that NPC is commoner in those South‐East Asian groups with admixture of Chinese blood, exemplified by NPC incidence in Singapore where the rates for male and female Chinese were 20.2 and 9.0 whereas those for the mongoloid Malays were 5.8 and 2.0 respectively. By contrast, the rates for the caucasoid Indians and Pakistanis were 0.2 and 0. It is highly unlikely that these differences are artefactual. The demonstration of an intermediate NPC risk level in Tunisia and other parts of Africa should, when confirmed, permit examination of viral and other aetiological hypotheses in populations with little or no Chinese genetic material.