Treatment, survival for colon cancer differs by race

Black people with advanced colon cancer are less likely to get consultations with specialists and treatment with complex medicines than white people, according to a new study.

Those treatment differences may explain why black patients with the disease are 15 percent more likely to die than their white counterparts, researchers suggest.

"This disparity in treatment does result in survival differences that are quite substantial," Dr. James Murphy told Reuters Health.

Murphy is the study's senior author and an assistant professor in the Department of Radiation Medicine and Applied Sciences at the University of California, San Diego.

Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the U.S., Murphy and his colleagues write in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Previous studies have found black people are more likely to develop colon cancer, have more advanced cancer when diagnosed and are more likely to die of the disease than patients of other races.

By country in the UK

Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the UK (2010), accounting for 13% of all new cases. It is the third most common cancer in both males (14% of the male total) and females (11%).

In 2010, there were 40,695 new cases of bowel cancer in the UK: 22,834 (56%) in men and 17,861 (44%) in women, giving a male:female ratio of 13:10. The crude incidence rate shows that there are around 75 new bowel cancer cases for every 100,000 males in the UK and around 56 for every 100,000 females.

Almost two-thirds (66%) of all bowel cancers are cancers of the colon and over one-third (34%) are cancers of the rectum (including the anus). More rectal cancer cases occur in men (8,753 or 63% male), while colon cancer cases are similar between men and women (14,081 or 53% male). The crude incidence rate shows that there are around 75 new bowel cancer cases for every 100,000 males in the UK and around 56 for every 100,000 females.

The European age-standardised incidence rates (AS rates) are significantly lower in England compared with Wales (males only), Scotland and Northern Ireland. The rates do not differ significantly between Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland for males, but rates are significantly lower in Wales compared to Scotland and Northern Ireland for females.

For the new study, the researchers used data on 9,935 white and 1,281 black patients with late-stage colon cancer from a national database.

All of the patients were at least 66 years old and were diagnosed between 2000 and 2007. The study followed them until they died or through 2009.

Almost three-quarters of the patients had surgery to remove tumors from their colon or rectum and 5 percent also had surgery to remove tumors that had spread to their liver or lungs.