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CHICAGO, Oct 23, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Two new studies, one in Texas and another in Chicago, have failed to pinpoint a single reason African-American women are more likely to die of breast cancer.
Researchers at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center found the racial disparity in survival rates was due in part to biological differences, The Chicago Sun-Times reported Monday.
In the Anderson study, published in the American Cancer Society's journal, Cancer, white, black and Hispanic women all received the same number of chemotherapy cycles.
In addition to lower survival rates, the study found African-American women had a higher percentage of tumors that could not be treated with effective hormone therapies.
Another study, recently completed by researchers at Mount Sinai Hospital's Urban Health Institute in Chicago, concludes the survival rate disparity is due to institutionalized racism that probably results in black women receiving inferior mammograms and treatment.
However, the Texas researchers discounted socioeconomic factors because Hispanics in their study had similar survival rates to whites even though their incomes and education levels were lower.
URL: www.upi.com Copyright 2006 by United Press International
