U.S. blacks get less treatment for cancer - study

	Tweet

Black patients with esophageal cancer in the United States are half as likely as whites to get surgery that can help them live longer and often do not even see a surgeon, researchers reported on Tuesday.

Only 25 percent of black American patients studied underwent surgery that can cure this form of cancer in some cases, compared to 46 percent of white patients, the researchers in the United States and the Netherlands found.

This could explain why blacks are more likely to die of esophageal cancer, they reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

“Our study showed that black patients are less likely to be seen by a surgeon, and if seen, less likely to undergo surgery,” said Ewout Steyerberg of Erasmus medical center in Rotterdam, who led the study.

Esophageal cancer is three times more common in blacks than in whites.

Blacks were also less likely to receive other treatments. The researchers found that 20 percent of African-American patients got radiotherapy and no other treatment, compared to 13 percent of whites. Twenty six percent of blacks received no treatment at all compared to 15 percent of white patients.

Researchers at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston reviewed the Medicare records of 2,946 white patients and 367 African-American patients, all over the age of 65 with cancer that had not spread elsewhere in the body.

They found that 70 percent of black patients saw a surgeon, compared to 78 percent of white patients. Of the black patients who saw a surgeon, only 35 percent were operated on, compared to 59 percent of white patients.

Two years after diagnosis, 18 percent of African Americans were still alive, compared to 25 percent of white patients. But when blacks got surgery, they were as likely to live as white patients.

“African-American patients need equal opportunities to receive quality cancer care. The time has come for us to move beyond just trying to remove barriers to access to care and actually work to engage vulnerable patients and find ways to facilitate their participation in care,” Steyerberg said.

About 20 percent of patients with esophageal cancer that has not spread usually survive at least five years if they have surgery. In 2004, 14,250 new cases of esophageal cancer were diagnosed in the United States, and 13,300 people died of it.

RELATED STORIES:
Dogs sniff out bladder cancer   Test for RNA in stool may spot colon cancer   Birth size linked to some adult cancers   AIDS-related skin cancer down sharply, study finds   Arthritis drugs may help fight cancer - study   Saliva can be used to detect oral cancer   Blood test detects early ovarian cancer   Huntington’s Disease Protects Against Cancer   Drop in smoking cuts cancer deaths in Europe   Birth control pill poses no added health risk   Report demands overhaul of cancer care in England   Other diseases often neglected in cancer survivors

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]