Study: Blacks With Colorectal Cancer at Higher Risk of Death Than White

African-Americans with colon cancer are over 50 percent more likely to die of their cancer within five and 10 years after surgery than white Americans, according to a new study reported in the journal Cancer.

A team of researchers led by Dr. Upender Manne of the University of Alabama-Birmingham investigated racial differences in colorectal cancer survival between 199 African-Americans and 292 white Americans who had surgery bewteen 1981 and 1993.

African-Americans were 1.67 times more likely to die within five years and 1.52 times more likely to die within ten years after surgical treatment for colorectal cancer, Manne reported.

These differences remained even after adjusting for colon cancer stage and other confounding variables.

Racial differences were most pronounced in patients with stage II disease. African-Americans with stage II disease were at 2.53 times greater risk of death within five years and 1.82 times greater risk of death within ten years post-surgery. There were no racial differences in survival rates among patients with rectal cancer.

These findings suggest that factors related to the tumor, such as genetic differences or other biological properties, may contribute to racial disparities in survival of patients with colon cancer, the researchers reported.

Other Sources: Cancer