Here's more data suggesting that big ethnic care gaps still exist. A newly-published study has concluded that black women with breast cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes are less likely to be offered add-on therapies like chemotherapy or tamoxifen treatment than similarly-ill white women.
The study, which will be published in November in the journal Cancer, looked at data on 630 women diagnosed with breast cancer at the Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit between 1990 and 1996. Of that group, 388 patients were black and 242 were white. Researchers concluded that white women whose cancer had spread to the nodes were a startling five times more likely as blacks to take cancer-preventing drug tamoxifen, and three times more likely to get chemotherapy.
To find out more about the study:
- read this HealthDay News item
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