I came across an article in New America Media about Asian Americans and cancer. I never know how much of these articles I should worry about and how much I should ignore. After all, Korean American adoptees are generally raised differently than ethnic Korean Americans – different cultures mean different foods, health patterns, etc… However, we also can’t ignore the statistics – some of it has to be genetics.

Cancer is the fastest growing cause of death for Asian Americans compared with other ethnic groups. – New America Media, see link above for full article

I wrote an earlier post about the fact that many Korean adoptees do not know the medical histories of their birth families. Even the adoptees that have information about their birth families or have contact with their birth families haven’t received the information. We have missed out on the years of reminiscing about Great Aunt Kate who died of breast cancer when she was fifty-two, but wasn’t she a character while she was alive.

The first challenge in treating Asian Americans for cancer is that they often see doctors as the last resort, a belief that lowers their chances of detecting cancer early, according to the American Cancer Society. Although breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in Asian-American women, they have the lowest screening rates among all ethnic groups, reports the Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum. – New America Media, see link above for full article

Well, I wish I could blame being Asian American for my own reluctance to go to the doctor, but things like this make you realize how important those annual visits are. If you ask me, I very rarely claim to be Korean American in the strictest sense of the words, but I do realize that there is an importance to paying attention to what is going on in the Asian American community. Though culturally, I don’t share a great deal, I still share the genetics.

I have written about other health topics before:

We Aren’t All Made the Same: A reminder that parents need to make sure that their doctors and professionals are aware that Asian children may be physically different than their Caucasian counterparts.

Korean Medical History – Follow up: Information about Asian bone marrow donations.

Diabetes in Asia: An article about the rise in diabetes in Asia that directly corresponds with dietary changes.

If you would like to comment, but not on this site, please e-mail me at adoptkoreablog@adoptionmail.com.