CDC: Race a Factor in Breast Cancer Death Rate

The Centers for Disease Control have released new statistics on breast cancer and race that show that one group of women is in greater danger of dying from the disease.

FOX News Radio’s Chris Hoenig has details:

Black women are 5% less likely to get breast cancer than white women, but…

(Dr. Plescia) “Black women are 40% more likely to die from breast cancer, compared to white women.”

Dr. Marcus Plescia is the Director of Cancer Programs at the CDC. ?He says the problem isn’t diagnosing the disease – screening rates are about even for white and black women – but black women have more aggressive cancer.

(Dr. Plescia) “When there’s more aggressive disease, there should be more aggressive treatment.”

And there’s not, but that doesn’t have to be the case. ?Dr. Plescia says patient tracking and follow-up programs are in place for all health companies to provide.

(Dr. Plescia) “We can make a difference in this. ?We can probably reduce this disparity by at least 20%, just looking at this quality of care issue.”

Chris Hoenig, FOX News Radio.