Black Americans remain more likely to die from cancer than their white counterparts, despite overall declining cancer death rates in the United States, a Duke University study reveals. Over the last two decades, the mortality gap has narrowed; in 2000, Black Americans had a 26% higher cancer mortality rate than whites, which decreased to 12% by 2020. The study, led by Tomi Akinyemiju, associate professor at Duke’s Global Health Institute, and Anjali Gupta, a former university scholar, analyzed data from the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics from 2000 to 2020, focusing on lung, breast, prostate, and colon cancers.
While cancer deaths have dropped for all Americans by a third since 1991, according to American Cancer Society statistics, the study found persistent racial and ethnic disparities, particularly for common and preventable cancers. Black men, for instance, are more than twice as likely to die from prostate cancer and have a 45% higher chance of dying from colon cancer compared to white men.
The researchers attribute these ongoing disparities to a combination of factors, including structural racism, mistrust in the medical profession among some Black Americans, inequities in healthcare access, poverty, and differences in tumor biology. The findings underscore the need for targeted efforts to address the complex web of social and biological factors contributing to cancer mortality disparities.
“Race Still Plays Role in U.S. Cancer Death Rates” by Ernie Mundell on the US News website (January 12, 2024)
