Black Women Less Likely to Receive Breast Cancer Treatment
Black women whose breast cancer has spread to the lymph nodes are less likely than white women to obtain optimal care, including supplemental therapies like tamoxifen or chemotherapy, according to researchers at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. They examined 630 women diagnosed with breast cancer between 1990 and 1996 and found that white women were five times more likely than black women to take the cancer-preventing drug tamoxifen, and more than three times as likely to undergo chemotherapy. Researchers attribute these findings to socioeconomic differences, accompanying diseases and access to care.
