Breast cancer rates among African American women increasing, American Cancer

According to a report from the Huffington Post, however, doctors are beginning to raise concerns about the new guidelines.

It’s important for women to be partners with their health care providers as they consider screening, said New Albany obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Leo Bautista. “I’m confused, and it’s what I do!” She said to me “if you have any problem, your problems are my problems”.

The American Cancer Society released a report Thursday with bleak news on the state of black women’s health.

Death rates from breast cancer have been declining since about 1990, in part due to better screening and early detection, increased awareness, and continually improving treatment options.

There’s new reaction to recent recommendations pushing back breast cancer screenings to age 45. For decades, breast cancer had been seen less often in black women than white women but somehow still claimed more lives in the former group. “More than lives are saved if you do screenings at 40”, she says. At 55, woman can continue yearly mammograms if they want.

Doctor Diana Griffiths is the director of the Comprehensive Breast Center at St. Agnes. A family history of breast cancer-specifically in a first degree relative (mother, sister or daughter)-approximately doubles a woman’s risk of developing the disease. As with many diseases, your risk of breast cancer also increases as you age. They don’t apply to higher-risk patients. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends 40 as the age for women to start getting mammograms. Oftentimes, it is usually late when people find out that they have breast cancer. Binns’s sister is a survivor of Stage 3 breast cancer; past year Binns herself was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Saturday marks the end of October and the end of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. A mammogram costs $70, he said, and one out of 10 mammograms detects breast cancer early and avoids $150,000 to $200,000 for chemotherapy treatment.

By 2012, overall breast cancer rates among blacks and whites converged and researchers say rates for black women now exceed those of whites in seven states: Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Kina Harris was diagnosed with breast cancer at 32 years old.