• Posted September 18, 2024

Black Women Face Higher Death Risk From All Types of Breast Cancer

Black women have a higher risk of dying from any type of breast cancer than white women, a new review finds.

Overall, the increased survival risk for Black women ranges from 17% to 50%, depending on the type of breast cancer, researchers found.

For example, breast cancers fueled by hormones like estrogen are 34% to 50% more likely to kill Black women than whites, results show.

Meanwhile, hormone-negative breast cancers are 17% to 20% more likely to kill Black women, researchers found.

“These findings underscore a stark reality in our healthcare system: Black women are facing higher risks of death from breast cancer compared to their white counterparts, across all types of the disease. This disparity isn't just about biology,” said researcher Dr. Paulette Chandler, an associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s Division of Preventive Medicine in Boston.

For the new study, researchers pooled data from 18 studies published between 2009 and 2022, analyzing nearly 229,000 breast cancer cases including more than 34,000 involving Black women.

Previous studies had found Black women 40% more likely to die from breast cancer than whites, but up to now it wasn’t known whether this disparity existed across all types of the cancer, the researchers said.

The team analyzed death risk based on all subtypes of breast cancer, including whether the cancers are fueled by hormones, can receive targeted cancer treatments or carry HER2, a protein associated with cancer aggressiveness.

What did they find? Survival was worse for Black women across all breast cancer subtypes.

The review was published Sept. 18 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

This disparity is at least partially attributable to factors resulting from systemic racism, such as social and economic inequality, delays in diagnosis and inadequate access to timely cancer treatment, researchers said.

 “Our findings demonstrate that multiple, interacting factors contribute to disparities in breast cancer survival between Black and white women,” said senior researcher Erica Warner, a cancer epidemiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, said in a hospital news release. “To achieve equity, intervention is necessary at multiple levels -- from community to healthcare systems and individual healthcare providers, to patients themselves learning about their disease and what their expectations should be for their care."

More information

The American Cancer Society has more about cancers in Black Americans.

SOURCE: Mass General Brigham, news release, Sept. 18, 2024