Cancer is Deadlier in Some Chicago Neighborhoods

Cancer is Deadlier in Some Chicago Neighborhoods
Rush University Medical Center
Cancer is Deadlier in Some Chicago Neighborhoods
Rush University Medical Center

Cancer is Deadlier in Some Chicago Neighborhoods

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Women in neighborhoods on Chicago’s South and West Sides have much higher death rates from breast cancer.

Map: 25 Chicago Community Areas with Highest Breast Cancer Mortality Rates

Of the 25 neighborhoods with the highest mortality rates, all but one are predominantly African American. That’s according to analysis published online last week in the journal, Cancer Causes and Control.

What’s more, the researchers mapped out hospitals with cancer programs accredited by the American College of Surgeons. Just one out of 14 is in a high-mortality neighborhood. David Ansell of Rush University Medical Center is the article’s lead author.

ANSELL: We have a pattern now where communities with the highest mortality rates are far away from the institutions with the best programs. 

That pattern could make it harder for African American women to access screening and treatment. Ansell says it probably contributes to the big racial disparity in Chicago. As of 2005, black women with breast cancer were more than twice as likely to die of their disease than white women.