Posted in from The Bench, tagged African Americans, Blacks, cancer, genes, health disparities, HER2, p53, research, triple-negative on April 24, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Two recently published cancer studies reveal differences in the severity of cancer (specifically breast and colorectal) between black Americans and other racial or ethnic populations are based in genetic variations. I think we should pause a moment and recognize that today is National Day, an observance popular in K-12 education to recognize the day that the research scientists at NIH completed sequencing of the human genome. The knowledge gained from that tremendous endeavor has informed the physicians and scientists is countless labs since and the current findings in the disparities between the burden of illness suffered by blacks with breast or colorectal cancer tumors is no different.
Dr. Carol Rosenberg and her colleges at Boston University School of Medicine have discovered that cancer tumors lacking genetic expression for estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors and HER-2 (human epidermal growth factor), so called “triple-negative” tumors were more common among black women. Specifically, their study of 415 women (36% non-Hispanic white, 43% black, 10% Hispanic, and 10% other) revealed that black women have a three times greater risk of having triple-negative breast cancer tumors as compared to non-Hispanic whites. Triple-negative phenotype tumors (which make up 15% of all invasive breast cancers) have been associated with poor prognosis and low 5-year survival rates. The implications are significant to understanding the prevalence of an increased burden of illness and death suffered by black women developing breast cancer.
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The most commonly occurring cancers vary greatly according to race and ethnicity. For example:
While the gap (as compared to non-Hispanic whites has narrowed since 1991) African Americans are more likely to develop and die from cancer than any other racial or ethnic group. The most common cancers among men in 2009 are projected to be prostate (34%), lung (16%), and colorectal (10%) cancer, and among women, breast (25%), lung (12%), and colorectal (11%) cancer. For all cancer types, African Americans are far more likely to be diagnosed in advanced stages of disease, when the cancer is less treatable. African Americans are also less likely than whites to survive 5 years after a diagnosis, regardless of cancer type and stage of diagnosis.
Cancers associated with viral infection are the most common caners in Hispanics/Latinos. Women have the second highest number of cases of cervical cancer (which is often caused by humanpapliloma virus) while cases of liver cancer (which is often caused by the hepatitis virus) are twice as high in Hispanic men and women as in non-Hispanic whites.
Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders are more likely to develop and die from both liver and stomach cancers than all other racial or ethnic groups (except in the case of stomach cancer where their prevalence and death rates are second to those of African Americans).
Medical researchers focusing on areas of health care disparities continue investigations to elucidate these figures. The interrelationship between multiple factors continues to yield reasons that are complex.
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Do you have type II diabetes? Early diagnosis is critical to successful treatment and delaying or preventing some of its complications such as heart disease, blindness, kidney disease, stroke, amputation and death.
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Posted in on Learning, on Treatment, tagged Blacks, cardiovascular disease, CVD, disability, morbidity, stroke, type II Diabetes, video on February 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
While heart attack and congestive heart failure affect the vessels of and ultimately the heart itself, stroke is a result of complications in the vessels that supply the brain instead. This results in localized damage to the brain. Unfortunately, many people still do not recognize the signs of a stroke and therefore delay urgently needed treatment.
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Blacks experienced a disproportionate number of HIV infections. Forty-six percent of new HIV infections occurred in blacks, even though blacks comprise only 12% of the US population. The majority (65%) of new infections in blacks occurred in men. Among black men, 63% of new infections occurred through male-to-male sexual contact. Thirty five percent of new infections in blacks occurred in women. Of those, eighty-three percent of the infections occurred through high-risk heterosexual contact. The disparity in new infections was especially pronounced among women, with the incidence rate in black women being almost 15 times higher than that of white women.
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