As the world acknowledges Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Our Weekly examines the full scope of how cancer impacts the Black community. Cancer has long affected the Black community, which has the highest overall death rate compared to other groups, highlighting a significant medical disparity.
“Overall declines in cancer mortality rates in Black people largely reflect behavioral changes, such as historical declines in cigarette smoking among Black teens, as well as advances in treatment and earlier detection for some cancers,” said Rebecca Siegel, senior scientific director of surveillance research at the American Cancer Society (ACS). “Yet, this population persistently experiences a much higher mortality burden than other racial and ethnic groups for many cancers,” Siegel added in a news release. “We must reverse course.”
The statistics for Black/African American men and prostate cancer skew the most negative of any group; from 2018–2022, they were diagnosed 62 percent more often than the total population and died within 5 years 92 percent more often than the total population from 2019–2023. Black/African American women were diagnosed with stomach cancer 47 percent more often than the total population of American women from 2018–2022. According to the CDC.
Black people are more likely than White people to be diagnosed with breast cancer (for women), lung, and colorectal cancers at a late stage. Studies also show that for breast cancer, Black women have a 40 percent higher mortality rate than white women.
“Future research should not only explore the influence of systemic racism on health, but also develop mechanisms to implement change, including increasing diversity in clinical trials,” Dr. William Dahut, chief scientific officer of the society, said in a news release.
Cancer is heavily linked to behavioral and environmental lifestyles like tobacco smoke, obesity, overconsumption of alcohol, and getting human papillomavirus (HPV).
While statistically things have been overwhelmingly bad, experts are noticing a decline in cancer deaths for Black men and women.
According the ACS report:
● Black men experienced the most significant relative decline in cancer deaths at nearly every age, compared to Black women and white people. This included a 65% to 67% decrease in deaths among those between 40 and 59 years of age.
● The most commonly diagnosed cancers continue to be prostate (44 percent among males), breast (34 percent among females), lung (10 percent), and colon (8 percent). These types of cancer account for 58 percent of all new cancers diagnosed among Black people.
● Black men have a 67 percent higher prostate cancer case rate compared to White men and are more than twice as likely to die from it.
● Black women have a 38 percent higher risk of dying from breast cancer compared to White women, despite a 5 percent lower likelihood of being diagnosed with the disease.
● Endometrial cancer cases continue to increase among Black women by 2 percent per year.
“Given this latest data, it’s also more important than ever to understand how to reduce your chance of getting cancer,” Dahut added. “This means taking preventative health measures, like understanding your risk profile, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and keeping up on cancer screenings to catch the disease as early as possible.”
