Cancer rates differ between races and genders

The American Cancer Society reports that since 2007, cancer deaths among black men remained at 32 percent higher than in white men while the rate of cancer deaths in black women is 16 percent greater than that for white women.

They added that for most cases of cancer, black patients showed the least cancer survival prognosis, as compared to all other ethnicities and races.

The most common cause of cancer deaths for black women are due to breast cancer and colorectal cancers while for black men cancers mainly include prostate, lung, and colorectal cancers.

However, a decline in the gap between cancer deaths in black and whites over the recent years was observed due to the relative decline for lung cancer, as well as other smoking-related cancers, and prostate cancer. Cases of lung cancer deaths actually are almost even between whites and blacks.

However, the report has cautioned that while the gap for lung cancer deaths declines, the gap for breast cancer deaths in women and colorectal deaths in both men and women appears to widen.

Statistics further show that about 169,000 black Americans will be diagnosed with cancer in a year and more than 65,000 will apparently not be able to survive.

Black men will most likely face prostate cancer that will account for about 40 percent of all cancer cases in men followed by lung cancer of about 15 percent and colorectal cancers of about 9 percent.

Meanwhile, breast cancers will account for 34 percent of all cancer cases in women.