Black British Women Face Early Cancer Risk

A new study says black women living in Britain were diagnosed with breast cancer at an average age of 46, compared to age 67 for white women.

The Cancer Research UK study, published online in the British Journal of Cancer, looked at 102 black women and 191 white women diagnosed with breast cancer at Homerton University Hospital in Hackney, East London, between 1994 and 2005.

The researchers said their initial findings suggest tumors in the younger black patients were more likely to be aggressive, and a higher proportion of tumors were basal-like — which means they were less likely to respond to newer types of targeted breast cancer treatments such as Herceptin, the group said Wednesday in a release.

We think the differences in the way tumors of black and white women behave can be put down to the biological differences between the two ethnic groups, Dr. Rebecca Bowen said in a statement. We’re now trying to find out why the tumors are so different so that we can develop new treatments to target the aggressive forms of breast cancer seen in young black women.