Asians and Pacific Islanders’ (APIs) leading cause of death is cancer. We compared APIs’ age-adjusted cancer mortality rates to other racial/ethnic groups and by API subgroup (i.e., Chinese, Koreans, Asian Indians, and Filipinos) using New York City (NYC) Mortality data and Census Bureau population estimates for 2001–2010. While other racial/ethnic groups’ overall cancer mortality rates declined in NYC during the last decade, APIs remained stable. APIs overall had the lowest mortality rates for more common cancer types (i.e., lung, colorectal, breast, and prostate), but the highest mortality rates for certain less common cancers (i.e., nasopharyngeal, stomach, and liver). Chinese New Yorkers’ lung cancer death rates were very high compared to other APIs and comparable to non-Hispanic whites (47.1/100,000 versus 49.5/100,000, resp.). Chinese men had much higher nasopharyngeal cancer mortality rates (4.5/100,000 versus 0.3/100,000 for non-Hispanic whites). Korean men had the highest liver and stomach cancer mortality rates (25.3/100,000 and 27.7/100,000, resp., versus 7.9/100,000 and 6.0/100,000 for non-Hispanic whites). Analysis of cancer rates by API subgroup provides the detailed information needed to plan cancer prevention efforts. These findings warrant consideration of targeted cancer mortality prevention efforts for affected subgroups, including hepatitis vaccination, screening, and treatment; smoking cessation; and cancer screening. 1. Introduction Asians and Pacific Islanders (APIs) constitute 5% of the United States (US) population and 13% of the New York City (NYC) population [1]. From 2000 through 2010, the API population experienced the fastest rate of growth than any other racial/ethnic groups both nationally (43% increase) and in NYC (32% increase) [2]. The city’s API population is the largest among US cities, 1.1 million persons, according to the 2010 Census. While cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of mortality among non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic blacks, and Hispanics, cancer is the leading cause of death among APIs, both nationally in 2007 (106.7 per 100,000) and in NYC in 2010 (105.9 per 100,000) [3, 4]. APIs experience lower death rates for certain common cancers (i.e., lung, colorectal, breast, and prostate) than other racial/ethnic groups in the United States [5]. However, APIs experience the highest death rates from some less common cancers, particularly those associated with infectious agents, such as nasopharynx, liver, and stomach cancer [6]. Published analyses on cancer mortality among APIs have largely focused on
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