Why Inequities in Most-Diagnosed Cancers Exist
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So we see that when we talk about lung cancer, the number one group of people that are diagnosed with lung cancer are African-American men. The number one group that die of lung cancer are African-American men. When we look at breast cancer, although Caucasian women are diagnosed more frequently with breast cancer, African-American women die more frequently. African-American men are diagnosed more frequently with prostate cancer, and die more frequently of prostate cancer. And when we talk about colorectal cancer, we see that the number one group that is increasing in being diagnosed with colon cancer are African-American individuals.
And they are the drivers for why we see that there has been a decrease in the screening age for colorectal cancer. Going from 50 to 45, because we had such an explosion in the number of those people being diagnosed with colorectal cancer at a younger age. And then finally, when we look at cervical cancer-- unfortunately, cervical cancer has become a disease of young Black women.
Definitely we see that access to care is associated with those social determinants of health; be that education, be that income, be that health literacy. So race is often tied to those social determinants of health. But race is not the only thing that's tied to those social determinants of health. Actually, geographic is associated with that. So we see that there are differences in individuals who live in suburban areas rather than urban areas, those that are populated by minority populations, be that Hispanic, be that African-American.
We see there are big disparities between the outcomes in cancer with regard to mortality, which is life and death, but also with morbidity, which is complications related to your cancer. And even with regard to screening, and regarding the end of the spectrum of cancer with regard to survivorship and palliative care, we see those disparities exist across the board. And one of the main things that's a driver of those disparities has to do with access to care. Making sure we have the health care equity that's needed will be one of the best ways to decrease the disparities that we see across the board,
across all races, across all rural and suburban geographic areas.
WINDY DEAN-COLOMB
In the US, there are five different cancers in which we have standardized screening programs. That includes lung cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, and cervical cancer. Those are the cancers that we see the disparities in. So we see that when we talk about lung cancer, the number one group of people that are diagnosed with lung cancer are African-American men. The number one group that die of lung cancer are African-American men. When we look at breast cancer, although Caucasian women are diagnosed more frequently with breast cancer, African-American women die more frequently. African-American men are diagnosed more frequently with prostate cancer, and die more frequently of prostate cancer. And when we talk about colorectal cancer, we see that the number one group that is increasing in being diagnosed with colon cancer are African-American individuals.
And they are the drivers for why we see that there has been a decrease in the screening age for colorectal cancer. Going from 50 to 45, because we had such an explosion in the number of those people being diagnosed with colorectal cancer at a younger age. And then finally, when we look at cervical cancer-- unfortunately, cervical cancer has become a disease of young Black women.
Definitely we see that access to care is associated with those social determinants of health; be that education, be that income, be that health literacy. So race is often tied to those social determinants of health. But race is not the only thing that's tied to those social determinants of health. Actually, geographic is associated with that. So we see that there are differences in individuals who live in suburban areas rather than urban areas, those that are populated by minority populations, be that Hispanic, be that African-American.
We see there are big disparities between the outcomes in cancer with regard to mortality, which is life and death, but also with morbidity, which is complications related to your cancer. And even with regard to screening, and regarding the end of the spectrum of cancer with regard to survivorship and palliative care, we see those disparities exist across the board. And one of the main things that's a driver of those disparities has to do with access to care. Making sure we have the health care equity that's needed will be one of the best ways to decrease the disparities that we see across the board,
across all races, across all rural and suburban geographic areas.