Rates of testicular cancer have risen dramatically in recent years among young Hispanic American men, according to a new analysis. However, the study does not find a similar rise among the non-Hispanic counterparts of these men.

Testicular germ cell tumors are the most common malignant tumor among adolescent and young adult men, reportedly accounting for 21% of all tumors in American males aged 15-39. Between 2005 and 2009, 5.5 per 100,000 American men had this kind of cancer.

However, incidence of testicular cancer was shown to vary by race. White men were found to be at highest risk for testicular cancer, with an annual incidence of 6.6 per 100,000 men during 2005-2009. In the same period, the annual incidence was 1.4 per 100,000 among black men, 1.9 among Asian/Pacific Islander men, and 4.7 among Hispanic men.

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Testicular germ cell tumors are the most common malignant tumor among adolescent and young adult men.

Hispanic Americans are the fastest growing population in the US – the 2010 census estimated that the US has about 50.5 million Hispanic citizens. A report presenting information on rates of testicular cancer from 1992-2003 found that incidence was increasing among Hispanic men but that the increase was not statistically significant.

In the new study, Dr. Rebecca Johnson and her colleagues at Seattle’s Children Hospital, WA, analyzed data from the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results program.

Dr. Johnson looked at two datasets from the program that spanned the years 1992-2010 and 2000-2010, and sampled 15% and 28% of the US population respectively. The team publishes its results in the journal Cancer.

The researchers found that, in the period 1992-2010, the annual incidence of testicular cancer among 15-39-year-old Hispanic white men increased by 58% – from 7.18 cases per 100,000 at the start of that study to 11.34 cases per 100,000 by the end.

In the same period, the researchers found testicular cancer incidence had risen by only 7% among non-Hispanic white men.

During 2000-2010, the incidence rates continued to rise in Hispanic white men, but there was no significant rise in rates of testicular cancer among non-Hispanic white men.

Historically, Dr. Johnson notes, non-Hispanic white men have had the highest incidence rate of testicular cancer among all groups in the US. However, if current trends continue, then the rates of testicular cancer among Hispanic men will outpace all other groups within the next few years.

She adds:

Hispanic Americans comprise the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States. Until only recently, cancer incidence data for this population has been too sparse to accurately analyze testicular cancer trends among Hispanic men.

The increasing rate of testicular cancer in adolescent and young adult Hispanic males, combined with the rapid expansion of the Hispanic population in the United States, is projected to have a measurable impact on the United States health care system.”

In 2013, Medical News Today reported on a study from researchers in Denmark that found surveillance – rather than additional chemotherapy or radiation therapy – is sufficient for the vast majority of testicular cancer patients who have successfully undergone surgery.

“Surveillance” involves routine CT scans, physical exams, chest X-rays and blood tests for a 5-year period after the surgery.