What Would You Do If Your Race Placed You At Higher Risk Of Dying Of Cancer?

EASE IN

If you knew that you were more likely to die of cancer than another set of people, just because of your ancestry, what would you do?

I would do the following in that order;

1. Freak out before I started asking the questions?
2. Start asking the questions in quick succession?
3. Think about some kind of solution, action, whatever. Just do something!

Well, I did all these when I found out as part of my research that black people are many times more likely to die of major cancers such as breast, prostate, cervical, uterine cancer, etc. If this is your first time hearing this you may be genuinely perplexed,? so let us go through the motions together.

FREAK OUT

Black people seem to be more disadvantaged when it comes to cancer survival. For all major cancers that top the chart of cancer-related deaths, being black seems to be one of the risk factors that reduce a person’s chances of survival.?

Take breast cancer for example. Black women are 40% more likely to die of breast cancer than white women or women of other races. And not just that, black women are more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer when they are young, their cancers tend to be diagnosed at later stages, and they tend to have the most aggressive form of breast cancer.

Cervical cancer is another one. Black women are more likely to die of cervical cancer than their white counterparts, current statistics place this at 60% increased likely of dying from cervical cancer if you are a black woman. But if you thought this was a gendered issue, you thought wrong. A look at prostate cancer shows that black men are more likely to develop prostate cancer, and twice as likely to die from the disease than other men. These figures are enough to freak anyone out, and if like me you are of African ancestry, you are right to be worried.?

THE QUESTION-AND-ANSWER SESSION

What is the reason for this trend? That is the logical next question to ask. The answer is complicated like most conversations that hint at either race or biology; the combination of both is even more complex. There are a multitude of factors that bear responsibility for this racial disparity in cancer deaths, and one important factor is genetics. The genes in black people work differently from those in white people and because for the longest time, black people were severely underrepresented in biological science research, scientists were late to the discovery party. But we now know that the genes that usually trigger the repair of DNA damage and promote healing work differently in black versus white people and this as well as other genetic-level differences contribute to this disparity. But the blame is also shared by other factors such as the fact that there are glaring differences in socioeconomic status between white and black people even in the same country which also reflects in the differential access to healthcare and subsequently plays a part in their disease being diagnosed late.?

SWITCHING TO SOLUTION MODE

Put together, what I am hoping you have gathered from the above 2 steps is that cancer in black people tends to be discovered too late, and after diagnosis, they very frequently tend to die of the disease rather than make a full recovery. Logically, it follows that the only lifeline here is to ensure that you attempt to catch the cancer before it even happens or when it is in very early stages. This can be done using cancer screening and genetic testing. Genetic testing for cancer risk is becoming increasingly popular for finding out if a person has the genes for a certain cancer, and breast cancer has benefitted immensely as a model case study. Several genes increase a person’s risk of having breast cancer, the most popular being the BRCA gene. Individuals who have the BRCA gene are at risk of having breast cancer and genetic testing can identify the presence of this gene.

Other methods of cancer screening are taking root globally. There are more screening programs now than there were 10 years ago, and breast, prostate, and cervical cancer are top of the list of cancers that have an established screening program which generally seeks to find cancers at early stages when they can be more effectively treated and some of these are screening programs offered as a yearly exercise. Get screened frequently.

CONCLUSION?

You’ve stuck with me to this point, must be because you were interested in the subject. The take-home here is that early detection and prevention are emerging priorities for healthcare, and this is especially important for black people and other individuals who are disproportionately affected by the disease. Genetic testing and cancer screening hold the promise of helping close the racial health gap and should be considered as part of routine healthcare.