Arctic Aborigines Have the Highest Rate of Lung Cancer in the World

Inuit, the aborigines found in the Arctic region, have the highest rate of lung cancer in the world.

The rate among the Inuit living in Alaska, Greenland and Canada is twice as high as that found among Caucasian people in the United States, according to research published in the most recent issue of the International Journal of Circumpolar Health.

Lung Cancer - Types, Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention
Lung cancer is a malignant tumor in the lung tissues. Smoking is the main cause of lung cancer with symptoms like recurrent respiratory diseases.

The situation is attributed largely to the prevalence of smoking habit in the region.

When comparing the incidence within Inuit populations, researchers found lung-cancer rates are 1.5 times higher among Inuit men living in Canada than they are among those living in Alaska and Greenland. The rate for Canadian Inuit women was even more alarming: they have two to three times the rate of other Inuit.

"One needs to look no further than the extensive prevalence of smoking among Inuit populations," the authors write. "Within homes, it is likely that there is a high rate of passive smoking."

Inuit living along the northern coast of Labrador are the direct descendants of a prehistoric hunting society that spread across Canada from Alaska and centered on capturing massive bowhead whales.

In the course of a tortured interaction with the Europeans, Inuit have acquired many unhealthy habits including smoking.

Mesothelioma
Animation on mesothelioma - a form of lung cancer, that explains about the condition, its risk factors, diagnosis and treatment

Kue Young, study co-author and a professor of public health at the University of Toronto, is to present his findings on cancer trends among the circumpolar Inuit at a conference in Quebec City this week.

According to Statistics Canada, 58 per cent of Inuit adults surveyed between October 2006 and March 2007 smoked every day, and another eight per cent smoked occasionally. The daily rate was over three times the 17 per cent among all adults in Canada.

Smoking Risk Calculator
Do you smoke cigarettes daily? Use medindia smoking risk calculator and calculate your reduced Life Span due to Smoking.

The circumpolar study also found that rates of nasopharyngeal cancer - the area behind the nose - are higher among circumpolar Inuit when compared to Caucasians in the U.S.

For Inuit men, the rate is 24 times higher while for women it is 37 times higher.

The authors say that while the link is not clearly understood, previous studies have also shown greater risk for this kind of cancer among Inuit and point to greater exposure to the Epstein-Barr virus and dietary factors such as the high consumption of preserved foods such as salted fish.

Source-Medindia
GPL/SK