Black Women Are Most At Risk Of Developing Endometrial Cancer

Researchers from Wayne State University in Detroit have conducted a study which looked at endometrial cancer cases in relation with race and ethnicity.  According to the study published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention black women are most likely to experience the most severe types of tumors which eventually lead to death.

The research team used data on endometrial cancer incidence and mortality from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program that lasted between 2000 and 2011. They analyzed the annual percent changes, the incidence-based mortality and the age-adjusted incidence. Rate ratios were also calculated in order to compare ethnic or racial groups. After a period of five years the researchers observed that black women were six percent less likely to survive tumors that are less severe and 59 percent less likely to survive aggressive tumors.

The incidence rates of endometrial cancer in fact increased among all ethnic and racial groups even though not as much as in the case of black women. Overall in the cased of white women the increase was less than one percent. Hispanic women experienced an increase in rates of endometrial cancer of 1.8 percent and among Asian women and black women the increase was of 2.5 percent.

Endometrial or uterine cancer is the fourth most often met malignancy among women. In 2013 almost 50.000 cases were reported in the United States. Researchers speculate that the increasing rates of endometrial cancer could be due to the increasing obesity rates. Tissues of excess fat produce more hormones including estrogen and insulin and this enables cancer cells to thrive.

The lead author of the study Michele Cote from Karmanos Cancer Institute at Wayne State University in Detroit remarked:

 We have worked over the last decade to try to disentangle the various factors associated with survival. It is highly complex, with socioeconomic factors and access to care certain to play a role. In addition, we believe that there are differences in tumor biology that we have yet to identify that make the disease more aggressive in black women.”

Gynecologic oncology researcher Dr. Joshua Cohen from the University of California, Los Angeles Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center was not involved in the study, but he said that there are things that women themselves can do in order to prevent endometrial cancer such as avoiding obesity and keeping a healthy lifestyle.

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