Despite the treatment options and tools available for early detection, each year, black women continue to die from the breast cancer at disproportionate rates.
VIDEO: Researchers highlighting racial inequities in cancer treatmentSEATTLE — Even before her diagnosis, Bridgette Hempstead says her cancer fight was an uphill battle.
“We know that Black women continue to experience higher breast cancer mortality compared to white women,” said Dr. Marissa Lawson, a radiologist with UW Medicine who recently published a study on race and cancer. “This is despite all of the advances in screening and diagnosis and treatment.” “We still saw that patients, Black women and Asian patients, they were experiencing longer delays to biopsy compared to white women,” said Lawson. “And so this is when we have to question, is there a structural racism that’s impacting these delays?”
The study found “structural racism, within and beyond health care, may contribute to these differences.”