Racial disparities in cancer mortality decline for America

A new report concluded that racial disparities between cancer deaths among whites and black Americans are decreasing. The study points out, however, that more aggressive strategies are needed to bring rates to an identical level for some forms of cancer.

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The report entitled Cancer statistics for African Americans, 2019 was published in the last issue of the journal CA: A cancer journal for clinicians the 14th^th February 2019.

The researchers collected data on deaths, survival, risk factors, and screening results from the surveillance, epidemiology, and end-outcome databases of the National Cancer Institute, the Association, and the National Cancer Institute. North American Cancer Registry and the National Center for Health Statistics. All these data were obtained between 1975 and 2016.

The researchers found:

• Among men, the total number of cancer-related deaths was 47% higher for black men than for white men in 1990.
• In 2016, the difference between black and white men in terms of cancer deaths fell to 19%.
• There was little or no difference between men under 50 years old.
• Prostate cancer was the most common cancer in black men, while bad cancer was most prevalent among black women. These cancers accounted for one-third of all reported cases.
• Between 2006 and 2015, cancer rates declined 2.4% for black men and 1.7% for white men.
• In black women, cancer mortality rates were 19% in 1990 and 13% in 2016.
• No racial difference was observed in women aged 70 and over.
• Between 2006 and 2015, cancer rates remained the same for black women but increased by 0.2% for white women.
• Among black Americans, the four most common cancers were bad, prostate, intestinal or colorectal cancers and lung cancer.
• The differences between black and white participants for prostate, bowel and lung cancer decreased significantly.

Carol DeSantis, Senior Researcher and Director of Surveillance Research at the American Cancer Society, said:

We have seen the most progress for lung cancer, followed by prostate cancer and colorectal cancer. For bad cancer, racial disparity continued to widen until 2010 and has been maintained ever since.

I was surprised and encouraged to see that the racial disparity in cancer mortality is narrowing. This is also the first time that we have examined the disparities between whites in terms of cancer mortality, by age group, and we have been very excited by the considerable progress made in eliminating racial disparities in several age groups. age, including men and older women.

The team then projected cancer deaths among blacks in 2019. She calculated that there would be a total of 98,020 cases of cancer in black men and 104,240 in black women.

"The message is that progress has been made, but we still have a long way to go," said Len Lichtenfeld, Acting Chief Medical Officer of the Cancer Society. He said that the Affordable Care Act could have made that difference.