Lower rates of cancer and all‐cause mortality in an Adventist cohort compared with a US Census population

Background Previous research suggests that Adventists, who often follow vegetarian diets, live longer and have lower risks for many cancers than others, but there are no national data and little published comparative data for black subjects. Methods This study compared all‐cause mortality and cancer incidence between the nationally inclusive Adventist Health Study 2 (AHS‐2) and nonsmokers in US Census populations: the National Longitudinal Mortality Study (NLMS) and its Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results substudy. Analyses used proportional hazards regression adjusting for age, sex, race, cigarette smoking history, and education. Results All‐cause mortality and all‐cancer incidence in the black AHS‐2 population were significantly lower than those for the black NLMS populations (hazard ratio [HR] for mortality, 0.64; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.59‐0.69; HR for incidence, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.68‐0.88). When races were combined, estimated all‐cause mortality was also significantly lower in the AHS‐2 population at the age of 65 years (HR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.64‐0.69) and at the age of 85 years (HR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.75‐0.81), as was cancer mortality; this was also true for the rate of all incident cancers combined (HR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.67‐0.74) and the rates of breast, colorectal, and lung cancers. Survival curves confirmed the mortality results and showed that among males, AHS‐2 blacks survived longer than white US subjects. Conclusions Substantially lower rates of all‐cause mortality and cancer incidence among Adventists have implications for the effects of lifestyle and perhaps particularly diet on the etiology of these health problems. Trends similar to those seen in the combined population are also found in comparisons of black AHS‐2 and NLMS subjects. In comparison with a national census population, all‐cause and cancer mortality rates and incidence rates for many cancers are substantially lower in a national Seventh‐Day Adventist population. This is also true for a comparison of black census subjects and black Adventist subjects.