Among younger women with breast cancer, Blacks are more likely than Whites to die of the disease

Black women had a 21% increased risk of dying from breast cancer compared with White women in a study of more than 21,000 women 40 and younger who were diagnosed with breast cancer between 2010 and 2016. White women survived an average of 4 months longer than Black women. 

Already the most common cancer among young women, breast cancer cases have been rising over the past decade. Younger patients typically have more aggressive disease at diagnosis, leading to a less favorable prognosis, according to study leader Malak Abuamsha, MD, (above).

• See “Cancer-Specific Mortality Is Higher Among Younger Black Female Patients With Breast Cancer” by Ryan Scott on the OncLive website (April 27, 2022)
• See the abstract of the scientific paper “Racial Disparities in Breast Cancer-Specific Survival Among Women Aged 40 Years or Younger in the United States” by Malak Abuamsha et al.