Breast Cancer Survial Not Better in Blacks

Breast cancer survival rates for women with advanced disease have improved, but the rates for black women have not, says a U.S. study.

Researchers at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston analyzed the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results database to identify 15,438 women who were newly diagnosed with advanced breast cancer between 1988 and 2003.

In those diagnosed with advanced breast cancer between 1988 and 1993, the median survival was 20 months in white women, compared with 17 months for black women, a one-year survival difference of 2.8 percent, according to the findings presented at the 43rd annual American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago.

In women diagnosed between 1994 and 1998, a white breast cancer patient’s median survival was 22 months, versus 16 months in black patients, a one-year survival difference of 6.8 percent. In those diagnosed between 1999 and 2003, the median survival for white women was 27 months, compared to 17 months for black women, a one-year survival difference of 8.8 percent.