Facts:

• African American women are more likely than all other women to die from breast cancer.
• Latinas are 20 percent more likely to die from breast cancer than Caucasian women diagnosed at a similar age and stage.
• Low-income breast cancer patients have five-year relative survival rates that are 9 percent lower than higher-income patients.
• Undocumented immigrants living in the United States are less likely to have access to health care options.

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For numerous illnesses, serious health inequities exist between different racial and economic groups, and breast cancer is no exception. African American women with breast cancer die at a higher rate than any other racial group, and studies reveal that African American and Latina women diagnosed with breast cancer are less likely to receive standard of care treatment. Low-income women are less likely to have employer-sponsored health care, placing them at great financial risk if they are diagnosed with breast cancer.

In the breast cancer world, research on inequities has focused primarily on two areas: genetics and personal behavior. Studies have examined the prevalence of BRCA gene mutations and differences in screening rates, obesity, and diet of breast cancer patients of different races. While these point to pieces of the puzzle, they tend to focus on an individual woman’s inheritance of “faulty” genes or her responsibility for having “caused” her disease.

BCA challenges this conventional approach to addressing breast cancer inequities. Eliminating differences in breast cancer incidence and outcomes requires us to look deeply and honestly at how issues of race, economic status, and political power — things outside an individual’s control — affect who enjoys good health and who does not, and whether or not communities are engaged in the decision-making processes that will ultimately affect their resources and overall health.

View our webinars on this issue:

• Inequities in Breast Cancer: Race and Place Matter
• Reducing Inequities in Breast Cancer: Why Experience Matters

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