Breast Cancer More Lethal Among Young Black Women

A recent study released in Chicago in early-August this year
said that young black women with breast cancer were “far more
likely” to get a more lethal and aggressive form of cancer
compared to white women.

A recent study released in Chicago in early-August this year
said that young black women with breast cancer were “far more
likely” to get a more lethal and aggressive form of cancer
compared to white women. The study covered a total of 496 women
below the age of 55 who had been diagnosed with breast cancer
from 1993 to 1996.

The study suggested that biology could provide some answers as
to why black women were afflicted with deadlier forms of breast
cancer than their white counterparts. Previous studies said the
difference may have been due to inadequate screening rates.

Official government figures indicate that a greater percentage
of black women die from breast cancer than men. Since 1990,
breast cancer has caused 15.4 deaths among black women for every
100,000 population compared to 9.3 deaths for white women for
every 100,000 population.

Medical doctors have said that, traditionally, more white women
have contracted breast cancer compared to African American
women, but that when the latter suffer from breast cancer, it is
usually a more aggressive type of cancer that is exceedingly
more difficult to treat.

Medical researchers identified a quick-spreading, basal-like
subtype of breast cancer that has afflicted a high level of
black women, about 39 percent of black women who are
pre-menopausal. Among older black women, this basal-like subtype
also accounts for 14 percent of breast cancer cases. Overall, it
was prevalent in only 16 percent of non-black women of any age.

The study said that this type of genetic profiling of breast
cancer suffered has led drug manufacturers to product a new
generation of best cancer drugs that are targeted at specific
race groups. Reports indicate that these new generation drugs
have met with startling success. However, with regard to the
basal-like breast cancer subtype, there are no such targeted
therapies that have been developed and the conventional
chemotherapy is still the best medical approach.

Doctors said the next step is further research that can provide
a deeper understanding of what causes the more lethal subtype of
breast cancer and why it tends to afflict a greater percentage
of black women. At the moment, it is uncertain whether this
subtype has anything to do with any inherited predisposition or
with the fact that black women are exposed to something in the
environment that other women are not. Doctors did state,
however, that one reason for the higher mortality rate among
black women is in prevailing disparities in access to treatment.

About the Author: Jonathon Hardcastle writes articles for
http://iwomensworld.net/ - In addition, Jonathon also writes
articles for http://universeofbeauty.net/ and
http://4alternativehealth.com/

Source: http://www.isnare.com