Latinos living with lung cancer tend to live longer thanwhite or black individuals with the same disease, according to a studypublished in the journal Cancer and reported by HealthDay News.  

For the study, researchers at the University of Miami (UM)examined the diagnosis and survival data of 172,000 cancer patients diagnosedwith the most common form of lung cancer. Researchers looked at all their datafrom 1988 to 2007.  

Researchers found that of these patients, Latinos had a 15percent lower risk of death than their white counterparts and this held truefor both U.S.- and foreign-born Latinos. Moreover, Latinos retained thesehigher odds despite facing higher poverty rates and more obstacles to health thanother groups.  

What’s giving Latinos this boost? It may be that Latinos areequipped with cancer fighting genetic factors and enjoy environmentaladvantages, like lower rates of tobacco use.  

“This is important because it shows that our findings areindicative of the Hispanic population in general and not specific to specificgroups of Hispanics,” said lead study author Ali Saeed, an MD/PhD candidate atUM. 

The study’s authors also added that white patients had aslightly higher likelihood of survival than their black peers and that Latinoswere more likely to be diagnosed with a less serious form of lung cancer. 

“Our findings will motivate researchers and physicians to understandwhy Hispanics have more favorable outcomes and may shed light on potentialenvironmental factors and/or genetic factors that can explain our observations,”Saeed said.