Breast Cancer in African American Women

According to the American Cancer Society, black women have a lower incidence of breast cancer across all age groups older than 40 years of age, although they have a higher incidence rate in women under the age of 40 years. They have a higher mortality rate across all age groups, even when matched for stage and will tend to be ER-negative in phenotype. Black women also are more likely to present with triple-negative (ER-, progesterone receptor-, and HER2-negative) disease and have a higher incidence rate of breast cancer than Hispanic or Latina women.

References:

American Cancer Society. Breast Cancer Facts & Figures 2013-2014. Accessed January 5, 2016.

Daly B, Olopade OI. A perfect storm: How tumor biology, genomics, and health care delivery patterns collide to create a racial survival disparity in breast cancer and proposed interventions for change. CA Cancer J Clin. 2015;65:221-238.

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