title: A matter of race: early-versus late-stage cancer diagnosis.
abstract: We compared the stage at which cancer is diagnosed and survival rates between African Americans and whites, for thirty-four solid tumors, using the population-based Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database. Whites were diagnosed at earlier stages than African Americans for thirty-one of the thirty-four tumor sites. Whites were significantly more likely than blacks to survive five years for twenty-six tumor sites; no cancer site had significantly superior survival among African Americans. These differences cannot be explained by screening behavior or risk factors; they point instead to the need for broad-based strategies to remedy racial inequality in cancer survival.
authors.affiliation: Health Policy and Management, University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, USA. virni001@umn.edu
authors.forename: Beth A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Virnig
authors.forename: Nancy N
authors.initials: NN
authors.lastname: Baxter
authors.forename: Elizabeth B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Habermann
authors.forename: Roger D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Feldman
authors.forename: Cathy J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Bradley
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D044469:Racial Groups; D018426:SEER Program; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology