MEDIA
Race, Low Socioeconomic Status, & ‘Triple-Negative’ Breast Cancer
WASHINGTON, DC—It has been known for some time that African-American women have a shorter overall survival from breast cancer compared with white American women. Some researchers argue that this is due to biological differences in the disease in various ethnic groups, while other studies have suggested that it is more closely related to poverty and generally lower socioeconomic status. Now, data from two studies presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting indicate that it is likely to be a combination of biological factors and socioeconomic status.... [pdf]
New Research Suggests Access, Genetic Differences Play Role in High Minority Cancer Death Rate
The reason for higher African American cancer death rates may be doctors’ failure to recommend appropriate chemotherapy and minorities’ ability to access expensive treatment. Or it could be a matter of genetics that predispose some people to hard-totreat tumors. African Americans have a higher chance of developing cancer and dying than that of any other racial or ethnic group in the United States. But new research, presented at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting in April, suggests that both access to health care and a propensity to develop hard-to-treat tumors play a role in the diagnosis and mortality disparities... [read more at JNCI Cancer Spectrum (PDF)]
Underserved African-American and White Women with Breast Cancer Have Similar Prognostic Profiles for Estrogen Receptor and Tumor Grade
The racial disparity in breast cancer prognosis and survival may have more to do with socioeconomic status, rather than biological factors, according to a study of women diagnosed and treated at a public hospital. The results were presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.... [read more at hopkinsbreastcenter.org (local link)]
Poverty, Genetics Linked to Cancer Risks in Blacks
At a time when blacks share a disproportionate share of the nation's cancer burden, new research presented here suggests that poverty and genetics may be at least partly to blame. "These studies dispel the myth that it's all about race," says Lucile L. Adams-Campbell, PhD, director of the Howard University Cancer Center in Washington. "Health disparities go beyond color and ethnicity."
"African-American women are more commonly poor and uninsured, so some studies suggest socioeconomic status, not race, is associated with a poor prognostic profile," says researcher Keith A. Dookeran, MBBS, of Stroger Hospital of Cook County in Illinois.... [read more at foxnews.com, webmd.com, medicinenet.com (local link)]
Racial Disparities in Cancer Not as Simple as Black and White
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- African-Americans are more likely to develop cancer and to die from this disease than any other racial or ethnic group in the U.S. population. The cancer death rate among African-America men is 40 percent higher than that of white men; it is 14 percent higher in black women. Possible causes for this discrepancy include lack of health insurance, poverty, language and cultural barriers, and inadequate access to early detection services and good medical care. Research reported today at the 97th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) suggests that genetics, in addition to socioeconomic status, are important factors accounting for the disparity of cancer incidence and mortality between African-Americans and whites.... [read more at aacr.org, eMaxHealth.com, MedicalNewsToday.com (local link)]
CCOP Profile
Stroger Hospital of Cook County (SHCC), became a Minority-Based Community
Clinical Oncology Program (MBCCOP) in June 2002. The SHCC MBCCOP has recruited more than 300 patients to nearly 30 NCIapproved
clinical trials, the majority of which are breast cancer studies. This MBCCOP has provided resources
that deliver high-quality, state-ofthe-art cancer research and care to the medically underserved population
in the Chicago metro area.... [read more at cancer.gov (pdf page 8)]
