Black Women Urged to Get Screened Early for Breast Cancer

*Breast cancer occurs at similar or lower rates among black and white women but Black women have a higher mortality rate.

“We have been reporting this same disparity year after year for a decade. The differences in death rates are not explained by Black women having more aggressive cancers,” said Rebecca Siegel, MPH, who co-authored “Breast Cancer Facts & Figures 2022-2024,” a companion to “Breast Cancer Statistics, 2022 in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians,” per cancer.org.

Siegel said, “It is time for health systems to take a hard look at how they are caring differently for Black women.”

As Black Enterprise reports, citing the Susan G. Komen Foundation, American women have a 13% lifetime breast cancer risk, and Black women make up 12% of those numbers.

READ MORE: Patti LaBelle Teams with Lifetime for Breast Cancer Awareness PSA | Watch

Black women with breast cancer are 40% more likely to die from the disease than white women. For #BreastCancerAwarenessMonth, Karen Finney and our elite panel of guests break down everything you need to know about breast cancer this Wednesday at 8P/7C on TV One pic.twitter.com/CpXY7kNBg4

— TV One (@tvonetv) October 11, 2021

Researchers propose that Black women should undergo screening earlier to counter infection and reduce breast cancer mortality.

Breast cancer mostly affects women over 50, according to cancer.org. The majority of women who die from breast cancer in the US are over the age of 70. Several studies suggest that Black women should begin screening for breast cancer at the age of 42 rather than 50.

“The take-home message for U.S. clinicians and health policymakers is simple. Clinicians and radiologists should consider race and ethnicity when determining the age at which breast cancer screening should begin,” Dr. Mahdi Fallah, an author of the new study and leader of Risk Adapted Cancer Prevention Group at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, Germany, told CNN.  

“Also, health policymakers can consider a risk-adapted approach to breast cancer screening to address racial disparities in breast cancer mortality, especially the mortality before the recommended age of population screening,” said Fallah.

According to the American Cancer Society, specific racial and ethnic groups are not taken into account when making suggestions, Black Enterprise reports. 

“We are in the process of updating our breast cancer screening guidelines, and we are examining the scientific literature for how screening guidelines could differ for women in different racial and ethnic groups, and by other risk factors, in a way that would reduce disparities based on risk and disparities in outcome,” Robert Smith, senior vice president for cancer screening at the American Cancer Society, said in an email to CNN.

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