Despite a decline in cancer rates between 2000 and 2020, significant racial and ethnic disparities remain for various common and preventable cancers, particularly among black patients, according to a study recently published in JAMA Health Forum. Research from the American Cancer Society shows rates of cancer mortality have declined an estimated 33% since 1991; however, cancer disparities have negatively impacted black communities compared to non-Hispanic white patients due to trust, healthcare access inequities, poor socio-environmental conditions, aggressive tumor biology, and genetic ancestry. Anjali Gupta, BS, and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional study using publicly available deidentified data from the National Center for Health Statistics to assess racial disparities in cancer mortality between Black and White patients in the US. The researchers observed declines in cancer mortality for all cancer types for both cohorts. Black patients, however, consistently experienced higher mortality than White indi-viduals for all cancers except female lung and bronchus.
