Blacks vs. Whites: On Cancer and Healthcare

It seems, some races/ethnicities are just more prone to cancer than others. Corollary, some races have higher survival rates for cancer than others. For example, a mutation was found to increase the risk of colon cancer in Caucasians by 10%, but not in Japanese population.

And in a recent study, African Americans were found to have lesser survival rates for breast cancer than their Caucasian counterparts. The same disparity was shown for prostate and ovarian cancers, which need changes in hormones in our body for the tumor to grow. Interestingly, the survival rates between black and whites are the same for other forms of cancers, like lung, colon, lymphoma, leukemia, or myeloma. Scientists found these results after other factors were adjusted for diagnosis, access to treatment, and standards of care.

Now the study focused on “race disparities” between blacks and whites. Although some cancers may be race-specific (or rather ethnicity-specific as some argue), I’d like to note again that blacks can have the same survival rates for some forms of cancers as whites do if only there is proper healthcare and treatment available. If only.

Image: sxc