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Making Sense of Racial Disparities in Cancer Deaths
Produced by Gabriel Spitzer on Monday, April 13, 2009
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Black women in Chicago with breast cancer are more than twice as likely to die of it than white women. There’s new research out today that sheds some light on the reasons.
The research shows sharp racial disparities when you compare large population chunks. But when you zoom in closer – all the way down to neighborhoods – the differences stop tracking along racial lines. That suggests it’s about social factors like access to treatment and the quality of care … not something biological that’s related to race. The Stony Brook University researchers used data from Michigan.
David Ansell says the results have a lot to say about Chicago. He’s chief medical officer at Rush University Medical Center.
ANSELL: It’s easy to say, oh, it’s because they’re black they get these diseases. While that seems to be true on the surface, the actual cause is the organization of our society in ways that are ultimately unjust.
Ansell sits on a task force investigating the disparities. He says the Michigan study confirms some of his group’s theories. The new research is out today in the journal, Cancer.
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Chris, Camp Hill // Tuesday, April 14, 2009 @ 8:32 PM
the problem is that black women use more Depo Provera and have more abortions...both increase the risk of breast cancer
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Gabriel Spitzer, WBEZ // Wednesday, April 15, 2009 @ 9:28 AM
Some clarifications: The National Cancer Institute, which is an agency of the federal government, says there is scientific consensus that abortion does not raise the risk of breast cancer: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/abortion-miscarriage.
And here is a large study that found no significant breast cancer link to use of Depo Provera, a contraceptive: http://womens-health.jwatch.org/cgi/content/full/2004/622/4. My understanding is that there have been some other studies that show a slightly elevated risk of breast cancer, but not enough to account for the disparity in Chicago.
It is true, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, that a higher proportion of African-American women have legal abortions than white women: http://www.statehealthfacts.org/comparebar.jsp?ind=468&cat=10. I have seen no demographic breakdown for Depo Provera users.
I fail to find any documented evidence that either of these factors can explain the disparity in cancer outcomes. If the previous commenter or anyone else has such information, I'd encourage you to post it.
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