Black women face greater disparities in breast cancer treatment

A brand new study has revealed the disparities and delays Black women face in early-stage breast cancer treatment.

The research was published on Thursday, October 24, in the journal found that older black women in the United States are less more likely to receive standard treatment for breast cancer and experience greater delays in initiating therapy in comparison with white women. The study analyzed data from greater than 258,000 women aged 65 and older with early-stage breast cancer and located that about 18% of black women didn’t receive guideline-recommended care compared with 15% of white women.

The disparities that Black women face when in search of cancer treatment exist across demographic categories beyond age, including cancer stage, insurance and neighborhood income levels. As a result, black women are 26% more more likely to die from any cause in comparison with white women.

“Non-Hispanic black race was associated with increased risk of not receiving guideline-consistent care and shorter time to treatment initiation,” the study said.

The study is predicated on an evaluation of the National Cancer Database documentation from 2010 to 2019, which found that white patients were greater than twice as more likely to start treatment inside 90 days of diagnosis than black patients.

“These findings suggest that optimizing timely access to and receipt of guideline-consistent care in older adults may provide a modifiable pathway to mitigating racial disparities in all-cause mortality among patients with early breast cancer,” wrote researchers from the University of Pennsylvania.

Research indicates that racial disparities endured though most black patients were covered by Medicare, suggesting that insurance alone doesn’t ensure equal access to care. In the study, roughly 79% of black patients and 84% of white patients were covered by Medicare.

The study provides further evidence to support the growing body of evidence highlighting persistent racial inequities in cancer treatment and outcomes. Previous research has shown that black women have a 40% higher breast cancer mortality rate in comparison with white women.