MyBlack^® Health

Barriers leave blacks vulnerable to cancer

Lack of access to routine checkups, poverty increase rates, article reveals

Source: Albany Times Union

ALBANY Poverty, bad health, no family doctor and poor care all contribute to the fact that black Americans are more likely to die from cancer than white Americans, according to an article co-written by an Albany Medical College surgeon.

"Available data would suggest that for a multitude of reasons blacks do worse than whites," said Dr. Steven C. Stain, chief of surgery at Albany Med. "And it starts from the beginning. Black patients are often diagnosed later which means they may or may not had access to appropriate screening.

"The second issue is there''s a complex relationship between the health care system and the patient and, said in the worst way, if a patient doesn''t trust the system they may not come in for care."

The article written by Stain and three other surgeons appears in the July issue of Journal of the American College of Surgeons. The article is a "collective review" that summarizes the latest research in a particular area of study.

Black Americans have higher death rates in nearly every category of cancer, the article said.

The five-year survival rate for colorectal cancer, for example, is 56 percent for blacks and 66 percent for whites, according to the article.

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