Cancer Spreads Faster In African Americans
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - One thing we learned as a people is that it is better not to discriminate against each other. But when it comes to certain health conditions unfortunately the diseases do discriminate.
Perhaps one of the offenders is cancer. According to experts, colon cancer discriminates and breast cancer discriminates even more. Breast cancer spreads faster in African-Americans than it does in Caucasians.
According to researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, cancer grows faster in African-Americans. In fact 15% of all breast cancers occur in black women and 39% of cases occur in black women under 50.
There is little we can do to change the fact that cancer discriminates. But what we can do is use that knowledge to figure out ways to detect it earlier and to look into ways to treat the condition effectively. In fact this is the most important part of studies like this – it teaches us what we need to do and how we need to attack the problem.
Reported By Dr. Brian McDonough, KYW Newsradio Medical Editor
