NEW YORK - Despite several factors stacked against them, U.S. Hispanics suffer less from cancer than white Americans do, a major new study found.

Hispanics, who make up 13 percent of the U.S. population and are the fastest-growing demographic group, are disproportionately poorer and more likely to be lacking in health insurance and higher education - factors that would seem to put them at greater risk.

But they are also younger, and cancer is associated with age. And they tend to have diets low in animal fats, which are linked to cancer risk, said Dr. Harold Freeman, medical director of the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care and Prevention in Harlem.

In addition, "the smoking rate in Hispanics is considerably lower than it is in whites or blacks. . . . That's a very big difference, since a third of cancer deaths are caused by tobacco," Freeman said.

The annual report to the nation on the status of cancer found that overall death rates from the disease declined for all races and both genders.

The declines in death were seen in 11 of the 15 most common cancers among men (lung, prostate, colon, pancreas, leukemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, bladder, stomach, brain, myeloma and mouth) and for 10 of the 15 most common in women (breast, colon, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, leukemia, brain, myeloma, stomach, kidney, cervix and bladder).

But breast cancer cases stabilized after increasing since 1980, possibly because of a sharp drop in the use of hormone-replacement therapy, the National Cancer Institute said. Still, it's too soon to know whether the stabilization is a real trend or a statistical blip, officials said.

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