Studies of Japanese Migrants. I. Mortality From Cancer and Other Diseases Among Japanese in the United States

Cancer mortality among U.S. Japanese for 1959–1962, emphasizing contrasts of Issei-Nisei experience, is reviewed and compared with earlier findings. Japanese migrant experience concerning displacements in cancer risk appears generally consistent with that of other groups migrating to the United States. Stomach cancer mortality rates among Issei and Nisei are more closely aligned to the high rates in Japan than to the low rates in the United States. On the other hand, mortality rates for cancer of the colon among Japanese (particularly males) have risen almost to equal the higher risks prevailing for U.S. whites. An atypical feature of Japanese migrant experience was the persistence among Issei and Nisei females of the low breast-cancer risks characteristic of Japan, with no apparent tendency to rise to the host population level. Mortality from all causes was low among U.S. Japanese—approximately 30% lower than for whites. This can be traced to the change from high mortality from cerebrovascular accidents in Japan to low mortality in the United States, which more than offsets an increase in deaths from arteriosclerotic heart disease.