Race and ethnicity matter when battling colon cancer, with young white patients facing notably better odds than Black, Hispanic or Asian patients, new research warns. A look at colon cancer survival among Americans younger than 50 turned up a glaring discrepancy: Survival five years after diagnosis improved to nearly 70% among white patients over two decades, but was less than 58% among Black patients.
All had been diagnosed with early-stage disease, starting in 1992.Moreover, the researchers found that the size of the survival gap grew over time. “Survival for Blacks diagnosed from 2003 to 2013 remained even lower than for whites diagnosed a decade earlier,” noted study lead author Dr. Timothy Zaki.
