African American Women’s Breast Cancer Rates Have Risen

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    Black women have been struggling for equality for far too long. Yet the most recent milestone of equality for black women is more of a cause for concern than celebration.

    According to a new report from the American Cancer Society, the incidence of breast cancer among black women is now equal to that of white women.

    What’s more troubling is the fact that the mortality rate for African American women with breast cancer is historically higher, with less responsiveness to modern treatments. Overall, black women are 42% more likely to die from breast cancer than white women.

    Such advances in diagnosis and treatment have drastically improved survival rates for non-African American women. Unfortunately, the data reports that black women are indeed at a disadvantage, as the number of women dying from the disease continues to skyrocket.

    “It is a crisis,” Marc Hurlbert, chief mission officer for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation told the New York Times. “The increasing incidence is unfortunate because the mortality rate for black women is already so much higher, and now if more women are getting breast cancer, then unfortunately, the number of black women dying from the disease will go up.”

    In addition to breast cancer, African Americans are up to two times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s, a disease affecting roughly 5.1 million Americans, and they also often have a higher risk of developing conditions such as diabetes or heart disease.

    But seeking explanation for this causation is a complicated task, as it can be attributed to a number of factors associated with racial inequality. For example, disparities in quality of care for African American women and limited accessibility to screenings and treatment may contribute to the racial divide.

    Other cultural phenomena, such as a distrust of doctors and economic disparity — leading to a lack of insurance coverage — may be other key factors.

    According to Health Day, black women also tend to have denser breast tissue, making it more difficult to read the breast imaging. The lack of viable detection tools, paired with mixed messages for mammogram frequency by the American Cancer Society, may put black women at a sore disadvantage.

    “Anytime scientists can’t or don’t agree, it gives some men and women an excuse not to do something that could very well save their lives,” Linda Goler Blount, president and CEO of the Black Women’s Health Imperative, a Washington, D.C.-based health-advocacy organization, told The Root. “As a very good friend said, ‘If the scientists can’t agree on when I should have a mammogram, then why should I have a mammogram?'”

    Hurlburt hopes that the troubling report will prompt more research efforts that include black women within their trials. Without adequate representation in clinical trials, breast cancer treatment and detection efforts will be skewed and cater to only certain demographics, leaving African American women in further peril.

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