4 Cancers That Hit Black Americans Hardest

Cancer incidence and death rates for some cancers have declined steadily over the past two decades in the United States. But not for everyone. Black Americans continue to die of cancer in disproportionately high numbers. Indeed, Black men and women are more likely to die of cancer than any other racial or ethnic group in the country, according to research published May 19, 2022, in JAMA Oncology.

“They continue to bear a higher overall cancer burden than all other racial and ethnic groups studied,” said Wayne R. Lawrence, DrPH, of the metabolic epidemiology branch at the National Cancer Institute's division of cancer epidemiology and genetics in a press release about the study.

Why? Systemic inequalities and barriers that both cause and perpetuate a variety of health inequities, including cancer disparities, according to the American Association for Cancer Research’s (AACR) 2022 Cancer Disparities Progress Report.

Overall, Black men and women are less likely to be screened for disease, more likely to receive a late-stage diagnosis when cancer is harder to treat, more likely to experience delays in treatment, and less likely to receive recommended treatment, according to the American Cancer Society.

Some cancers hit this community harder than others. Here are some that take the biggest toll.

1. Prostate Cancer

The most commonly diagnosed cancer in Black men, prostate cancer accounts for 37 percent of all new cancer cases. Mortality rates are more than twice as high among Black men as white men. The disparity is attributed to lower-quality treatment and greater likelihood of late-stage diagnosis, which is thought to be due to the fact that Black men are less likely to have access to or avail themselves of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing, a blood test that can screen for prostate cancer. Though not a perfect test, the PSA is the best available tool for detecting prostate cancer early, when there are more options for treatment.

2. Breast Cancer

In 2019, breast cancer surpassed lung cancer as the leading cause of cancer death in Black women, who have a 4 percent lower overall incidence of the disease than white women but a 40 percent higher death rate. Black women who develop breast cancer are less likely than any other race or ethnicity to be alive five years after diagnosis. The higher death rates are attributable to late-stage diagnosis and more limited access to screening and treatment options, according to AACR.

3. Lung Cancer

The second most commonly diagnosed cancer in Black American men and women, lung cancer accounts for more than 11 percent of all new cancer diagnoses. Lung cancer is also the leading cause of cancer death in Black men and the second leading cancer death in Black women. Black Americans were 15 percent less likely to be diagnosed early, according to the American Lung Association, 19 percent less likely to undergo surgery to have their tumor removed, more likely to not receive any treatment, and, as a consequence, 12 percent less likely to survive five years compared with white Americans. One piece of good news: Lung cancer mortality has declined at a faster rate among Black Americans than whites over the past two decades reducing mortality disparities between these populations. The drop in mortality is likely due to declines in smoking rates.

4. Colorectal Cancer

This cancer affects African Americans more than any other racial or ethnic group in the country, according to a study published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians in May 2022. Black men and women are on average about 20 percent more likely to develop colorectal cancer and about 40 percent more likely to die of it. They are also more likely to develop it at a younger age, be diagnosed at a later stage, and they have the lowest five-year survival rates of any racial or ethnic group in the country.