FROM DIAGNOSIS TO TREATMENT AND BEYOND…KNOW YOUR RISK.
When it comes to racial disparities in cancer diagnosis, African Americans are at the highest risk of dying from cancer, even though whites have the highest rate of new cancers.
Why? This increased mortality risk partly reflects a later stage of disease at diagnosis among black patients. Additionally, for most cancer types, black patients have lower survival rates at each stage of cancer.
Compared to members of other racial and ethnic groups, black and African American people have higher rates of developing and dying from many kinds of cancer. Black people have the highest death rate for cancer overall.
- Black people have a lower overall 5-year cancer survival rate than white people.
- Black people are more likely than white people to be diagnosed with female breast, lung and colorectal cancers at a late stage. Cancer is harder to treat after it spreads from the place where it started to other parts of the body.
Regardless of race, many cancers can be prevented. Staying away from tobacco smoke, keeping a healthy weight, drinking little or no alcohol, and getting human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations at the recommended age of 11 or 12 and until age 26 can lower the risk of getting cancer. Cancer screenings can prevent some cancers or find them early, when treatment works best.
Some of these risk factors vary by race and ethnicity.
- More black men than white men say they smoke cigarettes.
- Non-Hispanic black Americans are more likely than other groups to be exposed to smoke from other people’s cigarettes (secondhand smoke).
- Obesity is most prevalent among non-Hispanic black adults.
- Overall, non-Hispanic black adults are less likely than non-Hispanic white adults to be vaccinated against HPV. HPV vaccines help prevent several kinds of cancer.
- Non-Hispanic black adults are less likely than non-Hispanic white adults to engage in heavy drinking.
Sources: Centers for Disease Control: www.cdc.gov/cancer
American Cancer Society: www.acs.org