Racial gap in uterine cancer survival shrinking

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Racial gap in uterine cancer survival shrinking
Mon Jul 17, 2006 1:03pm ET171

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The racial gap in endometrial cancer survival
has begun to narrow, but black women are still more likely to die from the
disease than are white women, according to a new analysis of U.S. cancer
data.

While black women are less likely as whites to develop cancer of the
endometrium, the lining of the uterus, they are more likely than white
women to die from the disease, Dr. Linda S. Cook from the University of
Calgary in Alberta, Canada and colleagues note.

Mortality rates from endometrial cancer for both blacks and whites have
fallen over the past 25 years, they add. To determine whether the
difference in cancer survival between blacks and whites had also declined,
Cook and her team looked at data for all U.S. women diagnosed with
endometrial cancer between 1977 and 1996, including 45,261 whites and
1,986 blacks.

They divided women into six groups based on birth year and estimated their
relative survival. The oldest group consisted of women born between 1880
and 1899, while women in the youngest group were born between 1940 and
1956.

Five-year survival was more common among younger women, as well as those
diagnosed more recently, researchers found. During the study period,
five-year survival rose over successive age groups from 29% to 79% among
black women and from 63% to 95% among white women. Racial differences in
survival were smaller among younger women than among older women.

Absolute improvements in survival were seen for all women, but the
improvements were greater for black women than for white women.

"Substantial absolute improvements in 5-year relative survival were noted
for black women over successive birth cohorts beyond those experienced by
white women," Cook and her team write in the July issue of Epidemiology.

"Nonetheless, a disparity in survival between white and black women
remains, and the basis for this disparity continues to be elusive."

SOURCE: Epidemiology, July 2006.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

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