Black women’s health disparities under scrutiny in American Cancer Society’s landmark study

With Black women continuing to face the highest death rates from most cancers than other races, the American Cancer Society has launched the largest national study of its kind to gain understanding into what’s behind this reality.

Through the VOICES of Black Women study , the American Cancer Society plans to recruit at least 100,000 Black women from 20 states and the District of Columbia in order to follow those women for 30 years. The areas of focus, the organization finds, are where 90 percent of U.S. Black women between the ages of 25 and 55 reside.

While better detection and new medication have helped contribute to a decline in cancer deaths in the United States following a 1991 peak, Black women have the highest death rate for most cancers, according to the American Cancer Society.

“We hope to identify what is driving poorer health outcomes in Black women and then implement culturally appropriate strategies to change those outcomes,” said Alpa Patel, Ph.D., the Atlanta-based co-principal investigator of the study and senior vice president, Population Science with the American Cancer Society.

“We can learn about environment, lifestyle, how women engage with the healthcare system, discrimination and bias, and more right away,” Patel said. “Over time, we will be able to understand how these factors are related to cancer risk and outcomes to identify and then implement strategies to change the health of Black women.”

The poorer outcomes Patel referred to present in different ways — such as with rates of endometrial cancer leveling off for white women, while continuing to increase by more than two percent for Black women.

Another example of where medical professionals have seen a poorer health outcome for Black women is in the diagnosis of triple-negative breast cancer, which reportedly is the most aggressive type of breast cancer and hardest to treat. The numbers, Patel said, are “about one in 10 breast cancers for most racial or ethnic groups, but one in five for Black women.” In addition, Black women are twice as likely to receive a stomach cancer diagnosis, compared to White women, and they’re 2.3 times more likely to die from stomach cancer.

Some of the factors that contribute to the differences in health outcomes include access to quality care that is “patient-centered, timely, affordable, and delivered in a culturally competent way, as well as response to treatment, Patel said. “But there is so much more to learn so we can intervene in ways that improve outcomes for Black women.”

This will include getting a better understanding of “deeply rooted, long-standing inequities” such as barriers based on where a person lives and that person’s “access and availability to healthy foods,” a lack of sidewalks and other barriers to a person being physically active.

Participants in VOICES of Black Women must be biologically female or identify as a woman and identify as Black, be between ages 25 and 55 and not have a history of cancer, with the exception of basal or squamous cell skin cancer. Twice per year participants will complete online surveys. For more information on the study, visit voices.cancer.org.

Recognizing that Black women have faced fears of mistreatment of their bodies being used for clinical research, the American Cancer Society has been mindful to include the involvement of Black and brown women as part of the leadership team around the study.

“We are really doing this in partnership with Black women and our study leadership reflects that goal,” Patel said. “The majority of our internal leadership team around this study is made up of Black and brown women and our scientific advisory board consists of entirely Black women in science with expertise in Black women’s health. Central to our work is to ensure that we are being respectful and honoring the community that this study will serve.”

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