Breast cancer deaths higher in black women than white women in U.S.

Over the last 20 years, the drop in U.S. breast cancer deaths has been far greater for whites than blacks, according to a new analysis.

Researchers blame the disparity on socioeconomic status, the quality of healthcare and people's access to it.

"The advancements in screening tools and treatment which occurred in the 1990's were largely available to White women, while Black women, who were more likely to be uninsured, did not gain equal access to these life-saving technologies," lead author Bijou Hunt, an epidemiologist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago, told Reuters Health.

But biology is also partly responsible for these racial differences. High blood pressure, diabetes and other health problems are more common among blacks and can worsen cancer outcomes.

And unfortunately for black women, part of it simply comes down to cancer genetics. Blacks are more likely than whites to have aggressive breast tumors that don't respond to the most effective treatments.

Hunt and her colleagues looked at mortality rates in the largest U.S. cities at four different time points to assess the changes. What they found is that breast cancer deaths decreased by 13 percent for black women and 27 percent for white women.

The analysis, published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, also determined that the gap continued to widen as years passed. The rate of breast cancer deaths was 17 percent greater among blacks than among whites, and gradually increased to 30, 35 and then 40 percent.

Hunt and co-authors suggest that more screening and treatment options are available to whites compared to blacks.

"This is an ethical and moral problem that we in the United States have yet to come to grips with," Dr. Otis W. Brawley, chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society, said.

"This is not new science, this is getting old science to people who deserve it because they are human beings," he added. "That is where we as a society are failing."