Breast Cancer Rates For Black Women Is On The Rise

Breast Cancer Rates For Black Women Is On The Rise

A new study shows that Black women are more likely to die from breast cancer and the diagnosis for women of color is one the rise…

Via Newsweek:

Historically, white women have always had a higher prevalence of breast cancer in the country. Meanwhile, black women are much more likely to die from the disease. The breast cancer death rate is 42 percent higher in black women than white women.

However, a new report from the American Cancer Society (ACS) suggests breast cancer is becoming much more prevalent among black women in the U.S.

Between 2008 to 2012, rates of breast cancer diagnosis increased by 0.4 percent per year in African-American women and 1.5 percent per year among women identifying as Asian or Pacific Islanders. But the rates of diagnosis in the time period remained stable among women of white, Hispanic, American Indian and Alaska Native origins, according to the new study that was published Thursday in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.

Breast cancer is the second most common cause of cancer deaths in women, after skin cancer.

The authors estimated that in 2015 there will be 31,840 new cases of invasive breast cancer and 40,290 deaths.

For the study, researchers analyzed data from the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results and found that in 2012 black and white women were diagnosed with breast cancer at about the same rate. In seven states in the U.S., the rates of breast cancer among black women surpassed the rates of white women between 2009 and 2012. That increase was seen primarily in the Southern region of the country: Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and Tennessee.

What do you think of the latest study?