Impact of breast carcinoma on African-American women

Socioeconomic status and breast carcinoma survival in four racial/ethnic groups

“…Much of the debate has focused on factors for which race likely serves as a surrogate, such as stage, tumor characteristics (ER status, grade), SES, access to care (delayed diagnosis and treatment, treatment differences), body size, and comorbidity. 5,8,15 Although the unadjusted risk of death in this study was 1.8 times higher for blacks than for whites, most of the excess risk was explained by disease stage. After controlling for stage, the excess risk was substantially reduced.…”

“…5,6,12 Although the black/white survival disparity in breast carcinoma is well documented, few studies of racial/ethnic disparities have addressed the survival experience of other racial/ethnic groups. Like black women, Hispanic women also tend to be diagnosed with breast carcinoma at a later stage than white women, but it is unclear if Hispanic females have poorer survival.…”

Medical Barriers to Mammography Screening of African American Women in a High Cancer Mortality Area: Implications for Cancer Educators and Health Providers

“…They are onerous, as is lack of structural capability in lower income residential areas. There are fewer primary care providers and mammography facilities, less preventive care, and the population often lacks transportation [6,[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. Continuing efforts to reach lower income and African American populations include a community approach that reduces income, insurance, and other structural barriers with free or low-cost mammograms, and mobile units that schedule visits in medically underserved areas (MUAs) [6,8,19].…”

“…[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. The role of health professionals in screening these populations is increasingly being acknowledged.…”

“…Furthermore, medical providers in these practices are often less informed about preventive care or less likely to adhere to cancer screening recommendations [13,14,[20][21][22][23][24]. Time constraints limit patient education efforts [21].…”