The records of Alaskan Native patients with gallbladder and extrahepatic bile duct cancers diagnosed during 1970--79 were reviewed. Of 34 cases identified, the primary cancer was in the gallbladder in 29, resulting in age-adjusted incidence rates for gallbladder cancer of 4.4 for males and 17.6 for females. On the basis of calculations applying cancer incidence rates for U.S. whites to the Alaska Native population, a greater than expected number of both Eskimo and Indian patients were diagnosed. A 5-year review of cholecystectomies indicated that nonmalignant gallbladder disease was also elevated in both Indians and Eskimos.
Notes
From: Fortuine, Robert et al. 1993. The Health of the Inuit of North America: A Bibliography from the Earliest Times through 1990. University of Alaska Anchorage. Citation number 2174.