Leveraging existing cohort studies of Mexican women to better understand Hispanic health and cancer risk

Affiliations

¹ SECIHTI - Center for Research on Population Health, National Institute of Public Health, Fray Pedro de Gante 12, Belisario Domínguez Secc 16, Tlalpan, 14080, Ciudad de México, Mexico.
² SECIHTI - Center for Research on Population Health, National Institute of Public Health, Fray Pedro de Gante 12, Belisario Domínguez Secc 16, Tlalpan, 14080, Ciudad de México, Mexico. Liliana.gomez@insp.mx.
³ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Utah, and Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, 30 N 1900 E, Salt Lake City, UT, 84132, USA.
⁴ Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, 1845 N Soto St, Los Angeles, CA, 90032, USA.
⁵ Population Sciences in the Pacific Program, University of Hawaii Cancer Center, 701 Ilalo Street, Honolulu, HI, 96813, USA.
⁶ Department of Epidemiology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1155 Pressler St., Unit 1340, Houston, TX, 77030, USA.
⁷ Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA.
⁸ Institute for Minority Health Research, University of Illinois Chicago, 1819 West Polk Street, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA.
⁹ Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 655 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
¹⁰ Center for Research of Population Health, National Institute of Public Health, CDMX, Fray Pedro de Gante 12, Belisario Domínguez Secc 16, Tlalpan, Ciudad de México, Mexico, Mexico, 14080.
¹¹ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona, 1295 N. Martin Ave, Tucson, AZ, 85724, USA.

PMID: 40246768
PMCID: PMC12707317
DOI: 10.1007/s10552-025-02000-8

Leveraging existing cohort studies of Mexican women to better understand Hispanic health and cancer risk

Dalia Stern et al. Cancer Causes Control. 2025 Sep.

. 2025 Sep;36(9):887-893.

doi: 10.1007/s10552-025-02000-8. Epub 2025 Apr 17.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ SECIHTI - Center for Research on Population Health, National Institute of Public Health, Fray Pedro de Gante 12, Belisario Domínguez Secc 16, Tlalpan, 14080, Ciudad de México, Mexico.
² SECIHTI - Center for Research on Population Health, National Institute of Public Health, Fray Pedro de Gante 12, Belisario Domínguez Secc 16, Tlalpan, 14080, Ciudad de México, Mexico. Liliana.gomez@insp.mx.
³ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Utah, and Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, 30 N 1900 E, Salt Lake City, UT, 84132, USA.
⁴ Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, 1845 N Soto St, Los Angeles, CA, 90032, USA.
⁵ Population Sciences in the Pacific Program, University of Hawaii Cancer Center, 701 Ilalo Street, Honolulu, HI, 96813, USA.
⁶ Department of Epidemiology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1155 Pressler St., Unit 1340, Houston, TX, 77030, USA.
⁷ Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA.
⁸ Institute for Minority Health Research, University of Illinois Chicago, 1819 West Polk Street, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA.
⁹ Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 655 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
¹⁰ Center for Research of Population Health, National Institute of Public Health, CDMX, Fray Pedro de Gante 12, Belisario Domínguez Secc 16, Tlalpan, Ciudad de México, Mexico, Mexico, 14080.
¹¹ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona, 1295 N. Martin Ave, Tucson, AZ, 85724, USA.

PMID: 40246768
PMCID: PMC12707317
DOI: 10.1007/s10552-025-02000-8

Abstract

Background: Hispanics have been historically underrepresented in epidemiologic cancer research. Existing cohort studies focused on recruiting Hispanic participants have been relatively small, making studying cancer outcomes challenging. Therefore, we aimed to compare the distribution of cancer risk factors among Hispanic women of Mexican heritage (HWMH) participating in existing cohorts to explore the possibility of future data pooling efforts.

Methods: We used baseline data of HWMH from three US-based studies, the Mexican American Cohort (MAC; n = 19,797; 2001-2017), the Multiethnic Cohort (MEC; n = 18,007; 1993-1996), and the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL; n = 4,022; 2008-2011), and one study from Mexico, the Mexican Teachers' Cohort (MTC; n = 115,275; 2006-2008).

Results: Participants in MEC (59.5y) were older on average than MAC (40.9y), HCHS/SOL (45.5y), and MTC (42.6y) at enrollment. Most MAC (77.6%) and HCHS/SOL (85.4%) participants spoke Spanish as their primary language. Age at menarche (12.5-13.1y), age at menopause (45.8-47.9y), and smoking prevalence (~ 10%) was similar across studies. Parity was higher in MAC (3.8) and MEC (4.1) compared to HCHS/SOL (3.2) and MTC (2.5). Ever use of oral contraceptives was more frequent in HCHS/SOL (63.5%) compared to MTC (45.6%), MAC (37.9%), and MEC (35.2%). Obesity, diabetes, and hypertension were more common in the US cohorts.

Conclusion: This comparative study demonstrates the ability to harmonize data and provide information for future pooling projects across cohorts to evaluate cancer outcomes. Similarities and differences in characteristics across cohorts can be leveraged to better understand health disparities in HWMH.

Keywords: Cancer epidemiology; Cohort studies; Hispanic women of Mexican heritage.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflict of interest: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethics statement: This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Each individual cohort was approved by their institutional IRB. Consent to participate: Each individual cohort obtained consent to participate.

Figures

**Fig. 1**
Comparison of four longitudinal cohort studies that have collected information on HWMH

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

1. Vespa J, Medina L, Armstrong DM (2020) Demographic turning points for the United States: population projection for 2020 to 2060. Census Bureau, Washington, DC, pp 25–1144
1. Avilés-Santa ML, Hsu L, Lam TK et al. (2020) Funding of Hispanic/Latino Health-Related Research by the National Institutes of Health: an analysis of the portfolio of research program grants on six health topic areas. Front Public Health 8:330. - PMC - PubMed
1. American Cancer Society I (2024) Cancer Facts & Figures for Hispanic/Latino People 2024–2026. American Cancer Society.
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Leveraging existing cohort studies of Mexican women to better understand Hispanic health and cancer risk

Affiliations

Leveraging existing cohort studies of Mexican women to better understand Hispanic health and cancer risk

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Medical