Black women at higher risk of dying from breast cancer: How new study hopes for better health equity

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — The American Cancer Society is urging Black women to use their voices to help fight breast cancer.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the push to get Black women to join the study is for good reason.

Dr. Patience Odele is a breast surgical oncologist with Kaiser Permanente in San Rafael.

“African American women are doing worse than any ethnic group and they have about 40% higher risk of dying from a breast cancer, compared to white women overall,” she said.

She says regardless of what stage they’re presented with, they still have the lowest survival rate among all ethnic groups.

Kaiser is working to improve outcomes for Black women by providing education, support and screening.

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The American Cancer Society is also working to achieve better health equity for this group, which is why it’s looking for 100,000 Black women without cancer for its new VOICES study.

“Unfortunately, there’s been a bias in medical research and that we are less likely to study Black and brown populations in science,” according to Dr. Fola May, an Associate Professor of Medicine at UCLA, and a VOICES Ambassador.

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The study will follow participants for years to come.

What researchers discover can help improve the quality of care for future generations.

You can sign up for the VOICES study here.