CANCER RISKS BY AGE AND RISKS
Clearly, age and race appear to have a significant influence on ‘ whether or not a person gets cancer and what the eventual prognosis may be. As already noted, many possible explanations exist for racial and cultural disparities in incidence and survival of cancer, not the least of which are access to health care and socioeconomic status. Consider the following statistics:
Among Women• The incidence rate for female breast cancer is highest among white women (113 per 100,000) and lowest among American Indian women (33.9 per 100,000). • Black women have the highest incidence rates of colon and rectal cancer (44.9 per 100,000) and lung and bronchus cancer (46.2 per 100,000), followed by whites, Asian/Pacific Islanders, Hispanic Americans, and American Indians. • Black women are more likely to die of breast cancer (31.4 per 100,000) and colon/rectum cancer (20 per 100,000) than are women of any other racial and ethnic group. White and black women have the highest mortality rates of lung and bronchus cancer, followed by American Indian, Asian/Pacific Islander, and Hispanic women.
Among Men• Black men have the highest incidence rates of prostate cancer (223 per 100,000), colon and rectum cancer (58 per 100,000), and lung and bronchus cancer (112 per 100,000).• Black men are at least 50 percent MORE LIKELY to develop prostate cancer than are men of any other racial or ethnic group. Like American Indian women, American Indian men have consistently lower rates of cancer incidence than men of other racial and ethnic groups.• Black men have the highest mortality rates from colon and rectum cancer (28 per 100,000), lung and bronchus cancer (101 per 100,000), and prostate cancer (55 per 100,000). Black men are twice as likely to die of prostate cancer than men of other racial and ethnic groups.*4/277/5*
