Blacks more likely to die from colon cancer. A study by the American Cancer Society shows that colon and rectal cancer death rates are now nearly 50 percent higher in Blacks than in Whites, and the gap has been widening since the mid-1970s, when colon cancer death rates for the two racial groups were nearly equal. “We have seen this enormous progress in Whites. We could be seeing the same progress in Blacks, if we could overcome disparities in access to health care,” said Elizabeth Ward, who oversees surveillance and health policy at the cancer society. The third most deadly cancer in the United States, colorectal cancer claims about 50,000 American lives each year, according to the cancer society. Progress in fighting this deadly form of the disease has been greater for Whites than for Blacks, the new report says. The rate of diagnoses in Blacks was about 19 percent higher than it was for Whites in 2005, the most recent year for which statistics are available. Among Blacks, there were about 25 deaths per 100,000 people, compared to 17 per 100,000 in Whites – a 48 per cent difference. The two groups’ death rates were similar until the 1980s when colon cancer began to kill Blacks at a higher rate than Whites. Researchers say it’s not clear why Black mortality jumped in the 1980s, but it started a gap that continued to widen even after the Black rate began to fall again. Colon cancer deaths can be prevented by early diagnosis through screening and quality care. The screening rate for Whites is 50 per cent compared to just 40 percent for Blacks.

TAGS: Blacks, colon cancer, die, more likely

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