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Currently, the Black population in the
United States
bears a disproportionate burden of cancer, with the highest mortality rates of any racial or ethnic group for most major cancers and for all cancers combined. Learning about this disease and how it can be prevented and detected early is vitally important. More than 7,000 Black Floridians are diagnosed with cancer annually, according to the National Cancer Institute. Nationwide, about 137,900 Black Americans hear they have cancer each year.
The most commonly diagnosed cancers in Black Men are prostate, lung and colon. Black women are most often diagnosed with breast, colon and lung cancer. Compared to White men, Black men have a 20 percent higher incidence rate and a 40 percent higher death rate from all cancers combined.
Cancer kills more than 3,000 black Floridians each year, the National Cancer Institute reports. Nationwide, about 63,100 Blacks die from cancer annually. The leading killer for both men and women is lung cancer, followed by prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women.
Colon
cancer also is among the leading killers of both genders. Blacks are not as likely to survive five years after a cancer diagnosis as whites, largely because Blacks commonly are diagnosed at more advanced stages than whites, often limiting the options for treatment. |
