Colon Cancer gaps for black, white, mainly because of the screening

(Wednesday, 9 may HealthDay News) - differences in screening and account for much of the disparity colorectal (colon) cancer incidence and rates of mortality between white and black Americans, a new study said.

Differences in screening are responsible for 42 percent of the difference in the incidence of cancer and 19 per cent of the disparity in mortality rates, according to the study.

The study also concluded that the differences in survival linked to the stage of the cancer at diagnosis (which probably reflects differences in treatment) account for a 36 per cent additional differences between blacks and whites in colorectal cancer mortality rates.

The results suggest that equal access to care could significantly reduce these disparities, according to the study published online April 18 in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, biomarkers and prevention.

Researchers led by Iris Lansdorp-Vogelaar, then a visiting scholar at the American Cancer Society, used a computer model to apply rates of screening and survival of colorectal cancer given white of black Americans more of 50 years. They then compared the actual incidence rate and black to determine the extent to which racial disparities in cancer colorectal mortality rates are due to the differences in survival screening or specific step.

Application to blacks, the screening of white pattern would be the gap in the incidence rates of colorectal cancer in people over 50 years of approximately 28 to 16 cases per 100,000 and the gap in mortality rates of 27 to 22 deaths per 100,000, according to a press release American Cancer Society.

Researchers have also found that if blacks had the relative survival of where white, the disparity in rates of mortality of colorectal cancer decreases to about 17 deaths per 100,000.

In total, the differences in screening and survival represented 54% of the disparity in the rates of mortality of colorectal cancer between white and black. Researchers said that the rest of the disparity between the most likely is due to lifestyle factors that increase the risk (such as consumption of alcohol, smoking, consumption of meat and obesity) and decrease the risks (such as physical activity and hormonal replacement in women after menopause).

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more on colorectal cancer.

SOURCE: American Cancer Society, press release, 3 may 2012

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