  | ||
 SALEM HEALTH To discover more about the Salem Health online database, click here. |
|
Salem Health: Cancer African Americans and Cancer Category: Social issues Definition Cancer is the second leading cause of death among African Americans. African Americans experience higher cancer rates than any other racial or ethnic group in the United States, as well as higher mortality rates from those cancers. Description of the Population The U.S. government identifies as African Americans "individuals whose origins are from any of the black racial groups of Africa," including people who self-report their ethnicity as "Black, African American, or Negro" or who describe themselves as African American, Afro-American, Angolan, Negro, West Indian, Afro-Caribbean, Nigerian, Haitian, Gullah, Creole, West African, Afro-Latin, Afro-Brazilian, Congolese, Americo-Liberian, Bantu, Guinean, Moor, Pygmy, or Liberian. According to the Census Bureau, African Americans represented more than 13 percent of the U.S. population as of 2006. Incidence, Death, and Survival Statistics The average U.S. life expectancy was 49.2 years in the nineteenth century. The National Vital Statistics Reports (vol. 47, no. 28) note that African American life expectancy is 70.2 years, as opposed to 76.5 years for the U.S. population overall. African American men have a life expectancy of only 66.1 years; for all U.S. men it is 73.6 years. These statistics are reflected in the cancer morbidity rates for African Americans: In 2003, for example, cancer was the second leading cause of death of African Americans (topped only by heart disease). The death rate outstripped that of whites, with 234.5 African Americans (versus 188.3 whites) dying of cancer per every 100,000 in the U.S. population. Overall, African Americans have higher cancer rates than any other racial or ethnic group in the United States, and their death rates from those cancers are also higher. The five-year survival rate among African Americans for all cancers improved from 27 percent in 1960-1963 to 57 percent in 1996-2002. Nevertheless, at more than 63 percent, whites were still more likely to survive five years after diagnosis. African American men are more likely to succumb to cancer than are white men, although this disparity, after peaking in the early 1990's, has begun to decline. Death rates for African American women are closer to those for white women--although still higher. The fact that African Americans are more likely to be diagnosed with cancer later in the disease process and have less access to high-quality care in part explains their increased likelihood of death. The American Cancer Society reported that between 2000 and 2003, the cancers afflicting African American men most often were, from highest to lowest incidence, prostate cancer, lung and bronchial cancers, colorectal cancer, kidney and renal pelvic cancers, urinary bladder cancer, oral cavity and pharyngeal cancers, stomach cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, pancreatic cancer, myeloma, leukemia, liver and intrahepatic bile duct cancers, laryngeal cancer, esophageal cancer, brain and other nervous system cancers, small intestinal cancer, soft-tissue (including heart) cancers, Hodgkin's disease, Kaposi sarcoma, thyroid cancer, testicular cancer, melanoma of the skin, and mesothelioma. For all these cancers combined, African American men were afflicted, on average, 1.2 times more often than white men, with particularly noticeable disparities in Kaposi sarcoma, myeloma, and small intestinal cancers. For the same period, cancers afflicting African American women were, from highest to lowest incidence, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, lung and bronchial cancers, uterine corpus cancer, pancreatic cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, uterine-cervical cancer, ovary, kidney and renal pelvic cancers, stomach cancer, myeloma, leukemia, urinary bladder cancer, thyroid cancer, oral cavity and pharyngeal cancers, brain and other nervous system cancers, liver and intrahepatic bile duct cancers, esophageal cancer, soft-tissue (including heart) cancers, small intestinal cancer, Hodgkin's disease, laryngeal cancer, and melanoma of the skin. The overall incidence for African American women was, on average, slightly less than for white women, although the incidence of myeloma, stomach cancer, and small intestinal cancer among African American women was more than twice that among white women--balanced by lower incidence rates for other cancers, including breast and uterine corpus. For 1996-2002 (in descending order), survival rates among African Americans as a whole were best for prostate, female breast, urinary bladder, uterine corpus, uterine cervical, colorectal, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, leukemia, oral cavity, lung and bronchial, and esophageal cancers. For these same cancers combined, white survival rates exceeded those of African Americans by an average of 11.45 percent (ranging from 2 percent to 25 percent). The greatest disparities in survival rates could be seen in uterine corpus and oral cavity cancers: Whites outlived blacks by 25 percent and 21 percent, respectively. For 2007, the cancers projected to be diagnosed most often in African American men were prostate (37 percent), lung (15 percent), and colorectal (12 percent) cancers. African American women were expected to be diagnosed most often with breast (27 percent), lung (13 percent), and colorectal (12 percent) cancers. Risk statistics The major risk factors for cancer in all populations are socioeconomic status, tobacco use, and being overweight or obese. African Americans are disproportionately poor: In 2004, more than 29 percent of African Americans fell below the poverty line, as opposed to 13 percent of whites. Because one-fifth of African Americans are uninsured, access to care, particularly preventive and screening care, is limited relative to the rest of the population. Limited detection, in turn, leads to later diagnoses and thus cancers that are more difficult to treat and to survive. Tobacco use--the biggest risk factor for the deadliest cancer, lung cancer--accounts for about 30 percent of cancer deaths overall. Among African Americans, lung cancer death rates are higher than those of whites, even though most African Americans begin smoking at a later age and smoke fewer cigarettes per day. The amount of each cigarette smoked, the type of cigarettes commonly smoked (mentholated, with higher concentrations of carbon monoxide), and the condition of the individuals who smoke (nutritional status and genetic differences) are predicted to account for the higher death rates. Overweight and obesity, which constitute a growing pandemic in American society generally, are defined as a body mass index (BMI) greater than 25 (overweight) or greater than 30 (obese). After tobacco use, obesity is the second leading cause of preventable deaths in the United States. According to the 2003 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, nearly 33 percent of U.S. adults were obese, and as early as 2002, overweight individuals formed 65 percent of the U.S. population. Among African Americans, 76 percent were either overweight or obese as of the year 2004. Obesity is positively correlated with certain cancers, particularly breast, endometrial, and colon cancers. Perspective and Prospects From the early 1970's to 1992, rates of both incidence of and deaths from cancer increased among African Americans. After 1992, both death and incidence rates for all cancers among both sexes of African Americans, fortunately, declined. Five-year survival rates also improved, from only 27 percent in the early 1960's to 57 percent by 2002. Nevertheless, to bring about parity with the rest of the population, some key factors must be addressed: The current health care system must educate, train, and prepare a health care workforce that is intimately aware of African American health issues and must be sensitive to perceptions, concerns, and fears that may exist in the African American population. A concerted effort must also be made to educate African Americans regarding the role they play in improving their own health. They must understand the importance of health care screenings, weight reduction and management, and regular physical examinations Beyond prevention, however, African Americans continue to need better access to the health care system, improved medical insurance, more routine screenings, earlier detection, and better treatments upon diagnosis. With better access, informed African Americans can become empowered to take control of their health by seizing every opportunity to improve it. Christina J. Moose, M.A. For Further InformationAmerican Cancer Society. Cancer Facts and Figures for African Americans. Atlanta: Author, 2007. Bailey, Eric J. Medical Anthropology and African American Health. Westport, Conn.: Bergin & Garvey, 2000. Byrd, W. Michael, and Linda A. Clayton. A Medical History of African Americans and the Problem of Race, Beginnings to 1900. Foreword by Robert J. Blendon. New York: Routledge, 2000-2002. Collins, Catherine Fisher. African American Women's Health and Social Issues. Foreword by Vivian W. Pinn. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2006. Rawls, George, Frank P. Lloyd, Jr., and Herbert Stern. Managing Cancer: The African American's Guide to Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment. Roscoe, Ill.: Hilton, 2001. Reed, James, Neil Shulman, and Charlene Shucker. The Black Man's Guide to Good Health: Essential Advice for the Special Concerns of African-American Men. New York: Berkley, 1994. Williams, Christopher Kwesi O., Olufunmilayo I. Olopade, and Carla I. Falkson, eds. Breast Cancer in Women of African Descent. London: Springer, 2006. Other Resources African American Health Network http://www.aahn.com National Cancer Institute Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities http://crchd.cancer.gov/index.html MedlinePlus African-American Health http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/africanamericanhealth.html NetWellness African American Health Center http://www.netwellness.org/healthtopics/aahealth See Also Africans and cancer; Ashkenazi Jews and cancer; Asian Americans and cancer; breast cancers; ethnicity and cancer; family history and family risk assessments; genetic counseling; Latinos/Hispanics and cancer; lung cancers; Native North Americans and cancer; obesity-associated cancers; tobacco-related cancers. |
If you need help with products and ordering, setting up a new account or working with this website, call or email us:
 |
SALEM PRESS, INC. · 131 North El Molino Avenue · Pasadena · CA 91101 © Salem Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |