Topic Page for Cancer
African Americans have a dramatically worse prognosis for head and neck cancer
In a study published this week in the journal Cancer researchers report that African-Americans with head and neck cancers have a shorter survival time than whites (21 months vs. 40 months) and that the difference "is not explained completely by demographics, comorbid conditions, or undertreatment because poor outcomes continued to be observed after correcting for these factors. Earlier diagnosis, particularly in those from low SES groups and among AA patients, is needed to improve outcomes."
MedPage Today has a good review of the article.
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Posted by: David Porter on October 08, 2008
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Category: African-American Health; Cancer; Head and Neck; Health Disparities; Heath Inequities
Disparities in colon cancer screening rates
From EurekAlert:
Blacks and Hispanics appear less likely to undergo colorectal cancer screening than whites because of socioeconomic, health care access and language barriers, according to a report in the June 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. However, other factors may contribute to screening disparities experienced by Asians.
You can find the full study at the Archives of Internal Medicine.
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Posted by: David Porter on June 24, 2008
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Category: Cancer; Colorectal Cancer; Health Disparities; Health Inequities; Screening Rates
Cancer, stroke, and health disparities in China
China Daily is reporting on a new study by the Chinese Ministry of Health.
The study looked at the health of about 210 million Chinese across the nation. The primary finding was that cancer and stroke are the countries top killers.
In addition, the report found increasing disparities between the rural and urban areas of China.
The differences were reflective of the yawning gap between the country's rural and urban areas in terms of health awareness and living standards, [MOH spokesman Deng Haihua] said.
Disparities in economic development between rural and urban regions, which lead to an imbalance in medical care and health awareness, can influence the death rate in different areas, he said.
The number of deaths in the countryside was 19 percent higher than in urban areas. Within urban areas, the death rate in less developed western cities was 25 percent higher than in the more developed east.
Part of the problem is China's tremendous cigarette consumption. MSN reported that China consumes 2.3 trillion (2,300,000,000,000) cigarettes or two-fifths the world's total.
The China Daily article also mentions the infamous cucumber, "people in the rural regions of Hebei province like to eat homemade pickles that have high nitrite content, which can lead to cancer...."
You can read our other entries related to China at this link.
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Posted by: David Porter on April 30, 2008
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Category: Cancer; China; stroke
Racial disparities persist in U.S. cancer treatment
From Reuters:
U.S. blacks continue to get inferior cancer treatment compared to whites, researchers said on Monday in a study showing that disparities first documented in the early 1990s persist despite efforts to erase them.
Black patients were consistently less likely than whites to receive the recommended types of treatment, the study found, and the problem was just as bad in 2002 as in 1992.
The full study can be found in the journal Cancer.
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Posted by: David Porter on January 08, 2008
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Category: Cancer; Cancer Treatment; Health Disparities
Racial differences in kidney cancer care
From Reuters:
Dr. Sonja I. Berndt from the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland and colleagues examined data for 964 black and 10,482 white Medicare beneficiaries with renal cell cancer.
Blacks were much more likely than whites to have other illnesses, in addition to kidney cancer, the authors found.
Blacks survived a median of 2.5 years, while whites survived a median of 3.2 years, the investigators report, but this difference was eliminated when they adjusted for other illnesses present in blacks and treatment type.
"Although the reasons for the disparity in treatment are not entirely clear and need to be examined in future studies," the authors conclude, "this study suggests black patients may benefit from efforts to improve the availability of health care and interventions to reduce comorbid illness."
The study can be found in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
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Posted by: David Porter on September 10, 2007
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Category: Cancer; Disparities; Health Disparities; Kidney Cancer