CHARLOTTE, NC – February 15, 2022 – In a major shift, breast cancer has surpassed lung cancer as the leading cause of cancer death among Black women as of 2019. This news is one of the key findings in Cancer Statistics for African American/Black People 2022, published today in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society and its consumer-friendly companion, Cancer Facts & Figures for African American/Black People.
African American/Black people have a disproportionately high cancer burden compared to other population groups. According to the report, the risk of cancer death for Black individuals remains 19% higher for men and 12% higher for women compared to white individuals. The gap for breast cancer is more alarming; Black women are 41% more likely to die from breast cancer than white women despite a lower risk of being diagnosed with the disease.
Higher death rates are partly due to later stage diagnosis. Reasons for these disparities are complex but largely stem from less access to high-quality care and optimal treatment as a repercussion of long-standing institutional racism.
“African Americans continue to have a disproportionate burden of cancer mortality largely because of lack of health insurance and other socioeconomic barriers that limit access to cancer prevention and care,” said Dr. Karen Knudsen, American Cancer Society and American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) Chief Executive Officer. “Moreover, African American people are overrepresented in states that have not expanded Medicaid. Expanding access to care for all low-income persons and increasing trust in the medical community through provider education can substantially reduce the burden of cancer in African Americans.”
In North Carolina, ACS CAN continues to advocate for increased access to Medicaid to cover the over 372,400 North Carolinians who are uninsured —the majority of whom are Black or Latino.
“There’s never been a more crucial moment to address the growing, long-standing health inequities we see in the Black community – and most recently among Black women,” said DonnaMarie Woodson, an ACS CAN North Carolina volunteer and colon and breast cancer survivor who credits the coverage she received as a result of the public policy change through the Affordable Care Act with saving her life. “I know firsthand how important the decisions of our elected officials can be to people with cancer and their families and what it means for the health of our communities. Simply having coverage is crucial to surviving cancer and a lack of access continues to be one of the driving factors for the health disparities we see. It’s time for lawmakers to take action that closes the gap in North Carolina and provides a path for all to be able to access adequate care.”