California, October 27 (IANS). Elderly black women in the United States also suffer discrimination in cancer treatment. They also have to wait longer than a white woman. This has come to light in a study shedding light on racial inequality.
According to Xinhua news agency, the research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open collected data from more than 258,000 women aged 65 and older suffering from early-stage breast cancer. When they were analyzed this thing came to light.
The report claims that approximately 18 percent of black women did not receive treatment as per the guideline required, while 15 percent of white women received the care as per the guideline (guideline recommended).
The study said that “women of non-Hispanic black ethnicity were more likely to not receive care in accordance with guidelines and not start treatment in a timely manner.” This disparity was visible even after taking into account factors such as age, stage of cancer, insurance coverage and neighborhood income level.
According to an analysis of National Cancer Database records from 2010 to 2019, black patients lagged behind in starting treatment within 90 days of diagnosis, while white patients started treatment sooner. This number was more than double.
The study found that black women had a 26 percent higher risk of death from various diseases than white women. However, when researchers took into account differences in standard recommended treatments and other clinical and socioeconomic factors, the difference shrank to about 5 percent.
Most patients suffered from racial disparities despite having Medicare coverage, a federal health insurance program. This suggests that insurance alone may not be enough to bridge the disparity in treatment.
The study found that about 79 percent of black patients and 84 percent of white patients had Medicare coverage.
According to researchers, previous studies have shown that black women have a 40 percent higher death rate from breast cancer than white women.
–IANS
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