Ethnic Variation among Cancer Patients Essay -- Medical Research

Ethnicity is a term used to distinguish individuals and classify them into groups based on cultural and occasionally physical characteristics. Ethnic groups vary in the degree to which they exhibit common ethnic factors from those who share no or little cultural traditions to those who share a wider range of factors such as cultural traditions, place of origin, ancestry, language, and religion. To clarify the misunderstanding between ethnic groups and ethnic minorities, ethnic groups vary in their size from those of a small number which called minorities to those of a large number which called majorities(Stillwell & Ham, 2009). There is a substantial evidence that suggests the presence of disparities among different ethnic groups and different socio-economic levels(Hill et al., 2010a, 2010b; Jeffreys et al., 2005; King, 2000, 2001; Tobias & Cheung, 2003) . Maori, for instance, have a lower life expectancy rate than that of non-Maori, to be exact Maori have life expectancy low er by 9 years than non-Maori (Hefford et al., 2005; Tobias et al., 2009 ). Moreover, they show higher susceptibility rates to disease, particularly heart and respiratory diseases and diabetes, compared to non-Maori(Hefford et al., 2005; King, 2000, 2001; Tobias et al., 2009). Similarly, people of low socio-economic level - poor education, housing, and low income- have poor health status (King, 2000, 2001; Tobias & Cheung, 2003). In fact, although ethnic groups are closely related to socio-economic status, ethnic disparities exists in all different groups with different socio-economic level(Tobias & Cheung, 2003). In order to explore ethnic disparities in depth, studies that prove cancer inequalities among different ethnic groups will be provided. ... ...alth Metrics, 1(1). doi: 12773214 Stillwell, J. & Ham, M. (Ed.). (2009). Ethnicity and Integration: Understanding Population Trends and Processes- Volume 3. Dordrecht, Heidelberg, London & New York. Springer. Doi: 10.1007/978-90-481-9103-1 Tobias, M., Blakely, T., Matheson, D., Rasanathan, K. & Atkinson, J. (2009). Changing trends in indigenous inequalities in mortality: Lessons from New Zealand. International Journal of Epidemiology. 38, 1711-1722. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyp156 Hefford, M., Crampton, P. & Foley, J. (2005). Reducing health disparities through primary care reform: the New Zealand experiment. Health Policy. 72(1), 9-23. doi: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2004.06.005 Blakely, T., Tobias, M., Robson, B., Ajwani, S., Bonne, M. & Woodward, A. (2005). Widening ethnic mortality disparities in New Zealand 1981-99. 61(10), 2233-2251. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.02.011