In addition, he said, Black Americans are less likely to be screened for lung cancer — which can help catch the disease earlier, when it can still be treated with surgery.
“That’s sad, because currently only about 4% of eligible Americans are being screened,” Cooke said.
Right now, annual screening with CT scans is recommended for certain smokers and former smokers starting at age 55.
Even that, Annesi noted, puts Black Americans at a disadvantage, because they tend to develop lung cancer at a younger age than white people. (Recent “draft” recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force would lower the starting age for screening to age 50.)
Cooke said there are various possible reasons why people in highly segregated areas would be diagnosed later or fail to receive surgery — through poverty, lack of health insurance, or having no comprehensive cancer center within a reasonable distance, for instance.
The findings are based on data from a federal cancer-tracking system. More than 193,000 white patients and 35,000 Black patients with non-small cell lung cancer (the most common form of the disease) were included.
In line with past research, the study found that Black lung cancer patients had poorer survival than whites. But segregation, again, factored in.
The median survival for Black patients in more segregated areas was 10 months, compared to 12 months for those in less segregated counties. “Median” means that half of the patients survived longer, and half died sooner.
In another finding, white patients living in the most segregated counties also faced a higher risk of late-stage diagnosis and a lower likelihood of having surgery — though Black patients were more affected.
It’s not clear why, but Poulson said the measure used in the study does not say whether a segregated area was predominantly white or Black. Those white patients in segregated places might have lived in marginalized communities facing issues of poverty and lack of health care facilities.
While hospitals and doctors cannot fix residential segregation, Cooke said they can ensure they are practicing “evidence-based” medicine to minimize disparities in care.
People diagnosed with cancer, he said, should feel empowered to ask questions like, “What do the guidelines say about the care I should receive for my cancer?”
More information
The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more on racial disparities in lung cancer.
Sourced by HealthDay News.