IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v14y2017i5p486-d97679.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing the Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Breast Cancer Mortality in the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Clement G. Yedjou

    (Natural Chemotherapeutics Research Laboratory, Research Centers in Minority Institutio (RCMI)-Center for Environmental Health, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, Jackson State University, 1400 Lynch Street, Box 18750, Jackson, MS 39217, USA)

  • Paul B. Tchounwou

    (Natural Chemotherapeutics Research Laboratory, Research Centers in Minority Institutio (RCMI)-Center for Environmental Health, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, Jackson State University, 1400 Lynch Street, Box 18750, Jackson, MS 39217, USA)

  • Marinelle Payton

    (Center of Excellence in Minority Health and Health Disparities, School of Public Health, Jackson State University, Jackson Medical Mall-Thad Cochran Center, 350 West Woodrow Wilson Avenue, Jackson, MS 39213, USA)

  • Lucio Miele

    (Department of Genetics, LSU Health Sciences Center, School of Medicine, 533 Bolivar Street, Room 657, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA)

  • Duber D. Fonseca

    (Natural Chemotherapeutics Research Laboratory, Research Centers in Minority Institutio (RCMI)-Center for Environmental Health, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, Jackson State University, 1400 Lynch Street, Box 18750, Jackson, MS 39217, USA)

  • Leroy Lowe

    (Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Bailrigg, Lancaster LA1 4YW, UK)

  • Richard A. Alo

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, Jackson State University, 1400 Lynch Street, Box 18750, Jackson, MS 39217, USA)

Abstract

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer related deaths among women aged 40–55 in the United States and currently affects more than one in ten women worldwide. It is also one of the most diagnosed cancers in women both in wealthy and poor countries. Fortunately, the mortality rate from breast cancer has decreased in recent years due to increased emphasis on early detection and more effective treatments in White population. Although the mortality rates have declined in some ethnic populations, the overall cancer incidence among African American and Hispanic populations has continued to grow. The goal of the present review article was to highlight similarities and differences in breast cancer morbidity and mortality rates primarily among African American women compared to White women in the United States. To reach our goal, we conducted a search of articles in journals with a primary focus on minority health, and authors who had published articles on racial/ethnic disparity related to breast cancer patients. A systematic search of original research was conducted using MEDLINE, PUBMED and Google Scholar databases. We found that racial/ethnic disparities in breast cancer may be attributed to a large number of clinical and non-clinical risk factors including lack of medical coverage, barriers to early detection and screening, more advanced stage of disease at diagnosis among minorities, and unequal access to improvements in cancer treatment. Many African American women have frequent unknown or unstaged breast cancers than White women. These risk factors may explain the differences in breast cancer treatment and survival rate between African American women and White women. New strategies and approaches are needed to promote breast cancer prevention, improve survival rate, reduce breast cancer mortality, and ultimately improve the health outcomes of racial/ethnic minorities.

Suggested Citation

  • Clement G. Yedjou & Paul B. Tchounwou & Marinelle Payton & Lucio Miele & Duber D. Fonseca & Leroy Lowe & Richard A. Alo, 2017. "Assessing the Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Breast Cancer Mortality in the United States," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-14, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:14:y:2017:i:5:p:486-:d:97679
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/5/486/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/5/486/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chiara Acquati & Tzuan A. Chen & Isabel Martinez Leal & Shahnjayla K. Connors & Arooba A. Haq & Anastasia Rogova & Stephanie Ramirez & Lorraine R. Reitzel & Lorna H. McNeill, 2021. "The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Cancer Care and Health-Related Quality of Life of Non-Hispanic Black/African American, Hispanic/Latina and Non-Hispanic White Women Diagnosed with Breast Cancer ," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-16, December.
    2. Salamata Yoda & Laurie A. Theeke, 2022. "A Scoping Review of Factors Contributing to Late-Stage Diagnosis of Breast Cancer in Racial and Ethnic Minority (African American and Hispanic) Women," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(4), pages 21582440221, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:14:y:2017:i:5:p:486-:d:97679. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.