Life
Health care disparity: African Americans more likely to die from cancer than white Americans – study
“That’s primarily driven by declines in lung cancer, which is driven by more African American men stopping smoking than white men,” said DeSantis.
For women, however, death rates fell equally between blacks and whites over the last decade at about 1.5 percent.
Access to care
The researchers also found African American women are 16 percent more likely to die from cancer even though they are 6 percent less likely to get cancer.
“Primarily the reason for the lower incidence rate is that African American are at a lower risk of lung and breast cancer… Then we see if you’re diagnosed with the cancer you’re more likely to die from the disease, and that’s truly an access to care issue,” said DeSantis.
“This is a mix of good and bad,” cancer disparity researcher Dr. Christopher Lathan, who was not involved with the new analysis, told Reuters Health.
“We are making some progress in cancer treatment and we’re narrowing the gaps, but there are still areas that need work,” said Lathan, director for the Cancer Care Equity Program at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
