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Abstract Cancer Prevalence: Comparison of American Indians and Rural Caucasians Alice J. Abbott 1986 The purpose of the study was to describe the prevalence of cancer and selected characteristics of individuals with two diagnosis of cancer hospitalized in two similar communities for 1981 through 1984. One community was composed of American Indians and the other was composed of rural Caucasians. The research questions were: (1) What is the prevalence of cancer at each hospital? (2) What are the five most prevalent types of cancer in each hospital? (3) What are the similarities and differences in those individuals with the diagnosis of cancer for each hospital? An epidemiological approach served as the conceptual framework for the study. Descriptive epidemiological methodology was used to obtain and analyze the data regarding the occurrence of cancer. A tool was developed to record the type of cancer by primary site, age and sex from each ethnic community. The sample consisted of ten American Indians and 214 rural Caucasians. Data were analyzed using frequency, mean, range, and prevalence rates. Results of the study indicated that the prevalence of cancer among the American Indian sample was less that that of the rural Caucasian sample, 26/10,000 compared to 136/10,000. Comparison of the most prevalent types of cancer revealed dissimilar cancer types. Thus, timing of cancer education, screening, and detection programs for each community needs to be targeted appropriately for age group, sex and type of cancer.
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