Surviving breast cancer through early detection and diagnosis
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Here are some facts about black women and breast cancer to help better educate yourself and help get you the right treatment sooner.
The issue
Nothing speaks more clearly to the shocking breast cancer health disparities than the fact that Black women are less likely than white women to get breast cancer, yet have a higher breast cancer death rate. Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among Black women and in 2010, the CDC reported that breast cancer was the leading cause of cancer death for Black women aged 45-64 years. What was most alarming in this CDC report was that the breast cancer death rate for women aged 45-64 years was 60 percent higher for Black women than white women (56.8 and 35.6 deaths per 100,000, respectively). (CDC: National Vital Statistics System: http://www.cdc. gov/nchs/nvss.htm)
Why this is important for Black women
The growing breast cancer disparities that exist between Black women and white women are alarming. Although the overall lifetime risk of breast cancer is lower for Black women compared with white women, the death rates are higher. It is important to note that Black women also have a lower 5 year survival rate at 77 percent compared to that of 90 percent for white women. Contrary to prevailing beliefs, younger Black women up to age 44 have a higher incidence of breast cancer than white women, (U.S. Cancer Statistics Working Group. United States Cancer Statistics: 1999–2006 Incidence and Mortality www.cdc.gov/ uscs).
What Black women need to know
Breast cancer tends to appear in Black women at a younger age and in more advanced forms. In fact, Black women are two times more likely to develop triple negative breast cancer, an aggressive form of the disease which has fewer effective treatment options. Triple-negative breast cancers tend to grow and spread more quickly than most other types of breast cancer. We also are known to have denser breast, one of the strongest predictors of risk for breast cancer and also is a known factor limiting the sensitivity of a screening mammogram. Mammograms of breasts with higher density have been described as harder to read and interpret than those of less dense breasts. A small cancer can be concealed by dense breast tissue or by the overlap of normal breast structures.
Many women with early breast cancer have no symptoms. That is why it is so crucial to get screened before symptoms have a chance to appear. However, the most common sign of breast cancer is a new lump or mass. A painless, hard mass that has irregular edges is more likely to be cancerous, but breast cancers can be tender, soft, or rounded. For this reason, it is important that you have any new breast mass or lump checked by a health care professional experienced in diagnosing breast diseases.
Other signs may include:
• Swelling of all or part of the breast
• Skin irritation or dimpling
• Pain in the breast or nipple
• Thickening of the nipple or breast
• Discharge other than breast milk
What Black women can Do: Detect. Diagnose. Survive.
Early detection is critically important, especially for women at higher risk. For Black women who have been diagnosed at the earliest stage of breast cancer when the tumor is small and localized, early diagnosis can make a difference. For most of us, early detection and diagnosis are attainable with a few easy steps:
• Have your provider show you how to perform monthly breast self-examination (BSE) and perform it faithfully at the same time each month.
• See your provider for a clinical breast examination (CBE) at least once a year.
• Have regular mammograms. Since breast density is one of the strongest risk factors for Black women developing breast cancer, insist on digital mammography or some of the newer more advanced technologies that help detect tumors.
