Racial gap in cancer deaths unchanged since 1981, according to report
18 02 09 - 11:58
Racial gap in cancer deaths as wide as in 1981
By Liz Szabo, USA TODAY
Blacks are more likely to develop cancer and die from the disease than any other group, according to a report released today. Black patients also live a shorter time after diagnosis than others.
Death rates have fallen in recent decades for all groups, and the gap between the races has fluctuated over the years. Yet the gap between blacks and whites is just as wide today as it was in 1981, report co-author Ahmedin Jemal says.
Among women, for example, death rates were 14% higher for blacks than whites in 1981. Today, those rates are 16% higher. Death rates are 33% higher among black men than whites, a difference that is almost unchanged since 1981.
Black cancer patients have made some progress in recent years, however. Among men, overall death rates have been falling faster for blacks than whites, mainly because fewer black men are dying from lung and prostate tumors, the report from the American Cancer Society shows.
But blacks tend to be diagnosed at more advanced stages than whites, whose cancers are more often found at earlier, more curable stages. Blacks also are less likely than whites to get high-quality treatment in time to make a difference, says Peter Bach of New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, who was not involved in the new study.
In a groundbreaking 2004 study, Bach showed that the doctors who treated blacks were less likely to be board-certified and often lacked crucial resources, such as access to diagnostic imaging tests and specialists.
Blacks also are more likely to live in poverty and have low educational levels, Jemal says.
Education makes a huge difference in survival for all races, the report shows. For both blacks and whites, cancer death rates among those with a high school education or less are about twice the rates of those who have gone to college. Yet blacks still have higher death rates than whites, even when they have the same level of education, the report shows.
Blacks are less likely to be screened for colorectal cancer and are more likely than whites to be overweight and sedentary, which can increase the risk of developing many kinds of cancers, the report shows.
Bach says the report suggests that reducing racial disparities in cancer requires a "global approach" to address each of the factors contributing to blacks' higher death rates.
In addition to encouraging healthy ways of living — in which people have a regular doctor, get lots of exercise and never smoke — Bach says it's important to make sure the doctors and hospitals treating black cancer patients have the training and resources they need.