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Ethnic background
may play a role in a woman’s risk of breast cancer, as
one recent study found that American women who are black,
American Indian, Hawaiian, Pakistani or of other non-white
descents had an increased risk of being diagnosed with advanced
breast cancer than whites.
The national study
included 125,000 American women with breast cancer from 17
races and ethnic groups. Study data showed that blacks, American
Indians, Hawaiians, Vietnamese, Mexicans, South and Central
Americans and Puerto Ricans were 20 percent to 200 percent
more likely to die after being diagnosed with breast cancer
than non-Hispanic white women.
Researchers suggested
that economic, social and cultural factors might explain the
gap. Included factors, such as access to health insurance,
could delay diagnosis or affect treatment. The chance of being
diagnosed with advanced breast cancer, along with the risk
of mortality from it, is strongly influenced by access to
health care. Blacks, American Indians, Hawaiians, Indians,
and Pakistanis, Mexicans, South and Central Americans and
Puerto Ricans had a 1.4 to 3.6 times greater risk of being
diagnosed with advanced breast cancer than non-Hispanic whites,
study data showed.
Cultural and personal
factors can also affect risk, researchers said. For example,
non-Hispanic white women tended to be older than others when
receiving a breast cancer diagnosis. These women tend to use
hormone replacement therapy more often, which can increase
the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer.
Further, treatment
methods varied by race and ethnicity. Black, American Indian,
and Hispanic white women more likely to refuse surgery or
undergo a surgery outside of national cancer guidelines, and
less likely to undergo radiation therapy than non-Hispanic
white women.
The study did not
take into account the affect of socioeconomic status, access
to healthcare, use of mammograms and hormones, and chemotherapy
on mortality rates, researchers note.
Archives
of Internal Medicine January 13, 2003;163:49-56
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