MONDAY, Nov. 20, 2023 (HealthDay News) — For Mexican Americans, increasing generational status is associated with an increased risk for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), according to a study published online Nov. 20 in Cancer.

Nicholas Acuna, M.P.H., from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and colleagues examined the influence of generational status on HCC risk in a cohort of 31,337 self-reported Mexican American adults. Generational status was categorized as first-generation (Mexico-born; 13,382 participants), second-generation (U.S.-born with one or both parents born in Mexico; 13,081 participants), or third-generation (U.S.-born with both parents born in the United States; 4,914 participants).

The researchers identified 213 incident HCC cases during an average follow-up of 19.5 years. Compared with first-generation Mexican Americans, second- and third-generation Mexican Americans had increased HCC risk after adjustment for lifestyle and neighborhood-level risk factors (hazard ratios, 1.39 and 1.70, respectively). The increased risk was mainly seen in men (hazard ratios, 1.57 and 2.04 for second- and third-generation, respectively, versus first-generation).

“In conclusion, each successive generation of Mexican Americans living in the United States in the Multiethnic Cohort Study was more likely to uptake unfavorable health behaviors,” the authors write. “However, even after adjusting for these factors, there was increased risk of HCC with successive generations.”

One author disclosed ties to Gilead Sciences.

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