American Indian Culture and Research Journal

The health of American Indians continues to be poor when compared to that of the general population. Three out of eight American Indians die before their forty-fifth birthday compared to only one out of eight other Americans. Cancer has not always been a major public health problem for American Indians, and its occurrence in this special population has been studied this century only sporadically. At the beginning of the twentieth century, American Indians were described as "never having cancer". The SEER data in mid-century showed American Indians to have the lowest incidence rates among ethnic groups, although they did show the least favorable survival rates. A growing interest in cancer prevention and control, which has emerged from advances in research knowledge of cancer etiology, encompasses the epidemiologic evidence that the way people live can affect their chances of getting cancer. Since more American Indians are living longer, more might be expected to develop cancer, and since many have been assimilated into the larger society, their risks of getting cancer are becoming more comparable. The evidence that cancer is increasing in this population has been demonstrated. Other factors to explain this increase include genetic predisposition, heretofore a protective factor that has been modified by environmental influences that change the patterns of survival.