Tuesday, may 1 (HealthDay News) - equal access to health care would reduce the disparity in survival between white and black children with cancer, a new study suggests.
Researchers Research Hospital of St. Jude Children of Memphis, Tennessee, found that access to clinical trials and more expensive treatments, such as bone marrow transplants, has helped to improve the situation of children with cancer, regardless of their ability to pay. This is particularly true, they noted, for those who have advanced or complex forms of cancer.
In the study, the researchers compared the results of more than 4,000 patients of St. Jude and nearly 24,000 patients paediatric treatment in various U.S. medical centers for 19 different forms of cancer. The patients of St. Jude, 19% were about 75 percent were black and white. Patients treated in U.S. hospitals, approximately 10% were about 58% of white and black race.
In children treated at St. Jude, the study found almost no difference in survival rates of black and white patients for almost all cancers over a period of 15 years. During this time, noted the authors of the study, survival pediatric cancer five years across the country exceeded 80% due to medical advances.
Only the children who had some rare types of cancer and forms advanced disease when started the treatment did not improve the results, the researchers found.
However, the study, published in the Edition on 30 April of the Journal of Clinical Oncology online, showed that many black through the United States children do not benefit from the progress being made in the treatment of cancer in children.
The study found that these children had significantly worse results than white patients with the same type of cancer. Although the difference in the survival rate of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and Hodgkin's lymphoma narrowed during the 15-year study, the gap is increased for children with acute myeloid leukemia and neuroblastoma, a tumor of the nervous system.
"These results are a direct result of firmly of the opinion of [founder of St. Jude] Danny Thomas that to overcome the childhood cancers, the treatment must be available in all racial groups and ethnic, which was the case at St. Jude since [Thomas] has opened the doors in 1962," Dr. William Evans, co-author of the study and Director General of St. Judesaid in a press release from hospital.
The authors of the study say that equal access to care is essential to improve the survival rate of children with cancer.
"This study shows that excellent medical care and psychosocial support, [Black] patients should not necessarily fare worse than white patients," lead author of the study, Dr. Ching-Hon Pui, Chairman of the Department of Oncology, St. Jude said in the press release.
More information
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has more on racial disparities in health care.
SOURCE: Research Hospital St. Jude, press release, April 30, 2012
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