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Death rate for Black women from breast cancer “is a shocking number—it shouldn’t be that high”

“Not only are Black and African-American women more at risk for developing breast cancer than any other type of cancer, they’re also twice as likely to be diagnosed with triple negative and inflammatory breast cancers,” says Kerry-Ann McDonald, MD (above) a breast surgical oncologist at Lynn Cancer Institute in Boca Raton, Florida.

Of even more concern, she notes, is the fact that a Black woman in the U.S. is 42 percent more likely to die from breast cancer than a White women. That’s a shocking number—it shouldn’t be that high.”

Health disparities are also evident in Hispanic/Latino populations, where women diagnosed with breast cancer are often diagnosed at a younger age than non-Hispanic White women. “With breast cancer, the median age at diagnosis for Hispanic women is 59 years, compared to 63 years for non-Hispanic white women,” Dr. McDonald says.

See “What African-Americans and Other Minorities Need to Know About Their Risks for Cancer” by Peter B. Laird on the Baptist Health South Florida website (February 15, 2021)

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