Good News: Fewer Black People Are Dying From Cancer

By N. Jamiyla Chisholm Sep 20, 2019

According to a new report from the American Association of Cancer Research, the cancer death rate for Black people has decreased faster than the rate for Whites since the 1990s. In 1990, Black people died from the disease at a rate that was 47 percent higher (men) and 19 percent higher (women) than their White counterparts. By 2016, the gap narrowed to 19 and 13 percent higher for Black men and women, respectively.

One reason for the disparity decline is that “smoking prevalence has also decreased faster in Blacks than Whites,” which is greatly responsible for lung cancer deaths, Carol DeSantis, lead study author and cancer epidemiologist at the American Cancer Society, told ABC News. In addition to lung cancer, prostate and colorectal—the three most common forms of cancer—have all decreased among Black people.

But the report also confirms that Black people still disproportionately bear the burden of cancer deaths. For example, Black men die of prostate cancer at a rate that is more than double that of men in any other racial or ethnic group.

Other key findings:

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    2.6 times: Latinx children who have acute lymphocytic leukemia are 2.6 times more likely to relapse, compared to other children

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    21 percent: Black women with multiple myeloma are 21 percent less likely to receive the molecular targeted therapy needed to combat the disease, compared to White women

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    1/2: The likelihood that a Latinx patient who has metastatic prostate cancer will be treated with a cell-based cancer immunotherapy for the disease is one in two

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    Two-fold: Breast cancer-related lymphedema (swelling in arms) is twice as likely to pop up for Black women, compared to White women

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Read the complete report here.