0000000000631433

AUTHOR

Jacob Spallek

Cancer patterns among children of Turkish descent in Germany: A study at the German Childhood Cancer Registry

Abstract Background Cancer risks of migrants might differ from risks of the indigenous population due to differences in socioeconomic status, life style, or genetic factors. The aim of this study was to investigate cancer patterns among children of Turkish descent in Germany. Methods We identified cases with Turkish names (as a proxy of Turkish descent) among the 37,259 cases of childhood cancer registered in the German Childhood Cancer Registry (GCCR) during 1980–2005. As it is not possible to obtain reference population data for children of Turkish descent, the distribution of cancer diagnoses was compared between cases of Turkish descent and all remaining (mainly German) cases in the reg…

research product

Changes in smoking prevalence among first- and second-generation Turkish migrants in Germany – an analysis of the 2005 Microcensus

Abstract Background Compared to the majority population of a host country, migrants tend to have different health risks and health behaviour. We have hypothesised that these differences diminish with time passed since migration. We tested this hypothesis by examining smoking behaviour among Turkish migrants and their children born in Germany (second-generation migrants), stratified by educational level and, for the first generation, length of residence. Methods We estimated the prevalence of smoking based on the representative 2005 Mikrozensus, an annual survey including 1% of Germany's households. The 2005 Microcensus was the first to provide information that makes it possible to different…

research product

Cancer incidence rate ratios of Turkish immigrants in Hamburg, Germany: A registry based study

The aim of this Study was to estimate cancer incidence rate ratios for Turkish migrants in Hamburg, Germany. We used a name-based approach and identified 1346 cases with Turkish names (as a proxy of Turkish origin) among 140,249 cases of cancer registered in the cancer registry Hamburg during 1990-2005. To estimate the size of the denominator population, we applied the name-based approach to the population of Hamburg as well. The cancer incidence of specific cancer sites was compared between Turkish and non-Turkish cases using incidence rate ratios (IRR), stratified by gender and birth cohort. Our main findings are that cancer of the respiratory organs is diagnosed less frequent among Turki…

research product

Epidemiologische Perspektiven der Migrationsforschung am Beispiel von Krebserkrankungen

Epidemiologic research on migration and health in Germany is increasingly focusing on chronic diseases. Migrant studies can help to identify causes of diseases. They also help to identify health inequalities and can thus contribute to improvements in health care. With regard to cancer, descriptive studies among Turkish migrants and ethnic German immigrants from the Former Soviet Union have shown overall low, but slowly increasing cancer rates as compared to autochthonous Germans. For individual cancer sites such as stomach cancer, migrants appear to experience higher risks than the comparison population. Epidemiologic approaches studying cancer care and services for migrants, as well as ana…

research product