Cancer Grows Among African-Americans

By Makebra M. AndersonNNPA Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON (NNPA) – As he sits in a well-cushioned, Lazy Boy recliner, Lyle Henderson prepares to get comfortable. He kicks his feet up and makes sure the remote control is near. For eight hours straight, he watches television and movies, while drifting in and out of sleep. Henderson is not a couch potato. He’s receiving his weekly dose of chemotherapy. “I was born with a disease called hemangiomasarcoma, which is cancer of the blood vessels and muscle tissue. So far, it has only been in my left leg and foot. I’ve had close to 65 operations now,” Henderson explains. “My first operation was when I was 1 years old. I’ve been on and off chemotherapy all my life. I’ve also had radiation therapy, but that didn’t work too well in my body.” Henderson, is not alone is his fight with cancer. African-Americans bear a disproportionate burden of cancer and Blacks have the highest mortality rate of any racial and ethnic group. He believes that sub par treatment of Black patients by White doctors may be the reason. “It has been my experience that when you go to a doctor that is not of color-a White doctor – they tend to be a little dismissive and unfortunately they don’t take the time to speak with you about all of the conditions and issue relating to your disease and/or regiment and/or treatment. That’s when you have to stop them in their tracks,” Henderson says. “It has been my experience that with my African-American doctors they’ve been more obliging, more relationship-building. They have more genuine concern about what’s going on with me and my body and more importantly how this is affecting my life and my lifestyle.” Durado Brooks, director of prostate and colorectal cancers for the American Cancer Society, agrees that the quality of healthcare can have a direct impact on survival. “There is definitely some evidence that minority patients get a different standard of care. A number of studies have shown that African-American women diagnosed with the same stage of cancer as White women are less likely to receive state of the art care for breast cancer and there are similar sorts of findings for lung cancer among African-American men. There is some data suggesting that in colorectal cancer they [African-Americans] may not receive as aggressive therapy, which may contribute to the excess death rate,” he says. The American Cancer Society (ACS) reports that of the 1.4 million cases of cancer that will be diagnosed in 2005, Blacks will account for a large number of them. ACS says that an estimated 137,910 new cancer cases are expected to be diagnosed in African-Americans in 2005. Between 1996 and 2000, there were approximately 696,800 Black men with cancer, 561,200 White men and 419,300 Hispanic men. Among women, 406,300 Black women had cancer, 444,400 White women and 212,200 Hispanic women, according to the ACS. Brooks says there are a number of cultural issues related to diet, activity level, cigarettes and alcohol that contribute to the increased cancer burden in the African-American community. “Obesity is a risk factor that we have more recently identified and there are many cancers that are associated with being obese. Particularly, African-American women are more likely to be obese than there White counterparts,” Brooks explains. “Exercise has shown to be preventive in some cancers. It may be related to weight control, it may be other factors that play, but again African-Americans have relatively high levels of inactivity or lower levels of regular physical exercise than many other populations in the u.s. Those sorts of cultural factors do play a role.” Between 1999 and 2000, the American Obesity Association says that 39.9 percent of Blacks were obese, 34.4 percent of Hispanics and 28.7 percent of Whites. You are considered obese if you have more than 30 percent body fat. Brooks adds, “Economics plays a huge role in your risk of dying from cancer in this country. There is a linear relationship between your income and your risk of dying from cancer. If you live in a higher socioeconomic neighborhood-a neighborhood where there is a higher income level-and you develop cancer, you are much more likely to survive. If you live in an impoverished neighborhood and you develop caner you are less likely to survive and that’s regardless of color.” If this is true, many African-Americans have a slim chance for survival. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that Blacks make up only 13 percent of the population, yet they comprise 24 percent of the nation’s poor. From 2000, the number of Blacks in poverty increased from 22.5 percent to 23.9 percent in 2002 and 24.3 percent in 2003-that’s 9.1 million African-Americans, according to the U.S. Census. Prevention, early detection and treatment can reduce premature deaths from all major disease affecting African-Americans. “For so many African-Americans, they don’t go to the doctor unless they are feeling bad. Because of that, they have higher rates of diabetes, higher rates of high blood pressure and all of these things silently cause major damage. If you wait until symptoms occur from any of those, chances are you have irreparable damage and cancer falls into that same thing,” Brooks who works with the American Cancer Society explains. “If the caner is diagnosed in its earliest stages, treatment can be very effective and people can live long, healthy lives cancer free. Unfortunately most cancers among African-Americans are diagnosed late and are simply not as treatable.” The most prevalent cancers among Black men are prostate (41.8 percent), lung (14.6 percent), and colon and rectum (10.2 percent). Among Black women, the most prevalent cancers are breast (29.9 percent), colon and rectum (13.3 percent) and lung (13.2 percent). The ACS reports that about 63,110 Blacks are expected to die from cancer in 2005. Lung cancer accounts for the largest number of cancer death among both African-American men (28.4 percent) and women (20.5 percent). Between 1996 and 2000, 356,200 Black men died from cancer, 246,500 White men and 176,700 Hispanic. Among women, 198,600 Blacks died from cancer, 166,900 Whites and 112,400 Hispanics. Brooks adds that early detection can save countless lives, so don’t wait for symptoms to develop. Get in a preventive mindset instead of taking care of the problem when it occurs. Henderson, who has lived with cancer for more than 30 years, agrees. To him, information is the key to living with this disease. “Just like when I go to buy a car or go to buy a house I have to be an educated consumer. So in this case, I have to be an educated patient about my disease and therefore go in with a laundry list of questions and concerns,” he said. “It’s my responsibility as a patient to know what’s going into my body and be able to have the option to either decline or accept the treatment protocol. You can let it rule your life or you can let your life rule it-and it all depends on your mindset.”