The media holds medicine to a lower standard than it holds alternative medicine, such as say crystal healing. No way would an article in a major paper complain that we aren’t subsidizing crystals enough for poor folks, based on the observation that rich folks buy more crystals and rich folks are healthier. But for medicine, that sort of correlation is enough.
This answers your question: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/h... Apparently untreated breast cancer is not always fatal and sometimes doesn't even cause symptoms. So it is possible for black women to get breast cancer but never finding out.
Note that white women may seem to “get” more breast cancer because they are tested more often for it.
How do they miss it? If you get tested often, you'll catch it early, but if you have it, I'd expect you'd find out eventually. Are people dying of other things before it gets to stages where it's noticeable? Are people getting false positives and "curing" it, then getting counted towards having it?
There is no individual in the group that has characteristics of the average of the group.
Mortality from breast cancer is highly non-linear with access to health care. If you have access below the level that detects breast cancer timely and treats it effectively, and you get breast cancer, you are very likely to die of breast cancer.
If you have a level of health care that detects breast cancer timely and treats it effectively, then you are will have a lower breast cancer death rate.
Also, NHB women have higher relative death rates from other things than white women and they have a lower life expectancy.
In 2007 there were 141,246 deaths in NHB women and 1,050,200 in white women, a ratio of 1 to 7.4.
Final data for 2007. National vital statistics reports; vol 58 no 19.
From breast cancer in NHB women there were 5,799 deaths and 33,485 in white women, a ratio of 1 to 5.7. Breast cancer is a relatively small cause of death in women, only about 3.2% of white women and 4.1% of NHB women.
For complications of childbirth there were 484 and 918 deaths NHB vs white. For cancer of the uterus & cervix there were 2100 and 8,999. For accidents there were 4,291 and 38,193. For suicide there were 352 and 6,623. For homicides there were 1,286 and 2,373. For HIV there were 2,284 and 875, one of the very few causes of death where more black women died than white women.
For a few causes of death there are excess deaths in NHB women compared to white women.
Looking at the pattern of death rates, it is plausible that lack of access to health care is a causal factor.
It is well known that NHB women are poorer than white women. It is well known that poverty correlates with a lack of access to good health care. It is well known that a lack of access to good health care correlates with not as good health.
Why are you shocked that excess breast cancer deaths would be attributed to known differences between the two populations that are known to affect outcomes?
I don't think we should look at who gets to have treatment (most people get it from the hospital eventually), but at who continues to live happily after the treatment and who will later die in a cardboard box because off debt.
Poor women will go to a doctor if they know they have breast cancer, but they won't go to regular check ups that cost them money.
There is enough medical care available in the United States, but it's overpriced and not affordable to a large segment of the population.
Man, I can't imagine the stress of not knowing for sure if you'll be taken care of when you get sick or get in an accident... How do people live like that? Is this why 11% of Americans are taking anti-depressants?
This answers your question: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/h... Apparently untreated breast cancer is not always fatal and sometimes doesn't even cause symptoms. So it is possible for black women to get breast cancer but never finding out.
Note that white women may seem to “get” more breast cancer because they are tested more often for it.
How do they miss it? If you get tested often, you'll catch it early, but if you have it, I'd expect you'd find out eventually. Are people dying of other things before it gets to stages where it's noticeable? Are people getting false positives and "curing" it, then getting counted towards having it?
You are making the ecological fallacy again.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...
There is no individual in the group that has characteristics of the average of the group.
Mortality from breast cancer is highly non-linear with access to health care. If you have access below the level that detects breast cancer timely and treats it effectively, and you get breast cancer, you are very likely to die of breast cancer.
If you have a level of health care that detects breast cancer timely and treats it effectively, then you are will have a lower breast cancer death rate.
Also, NHB women have higher relative death rates from other things than white women and they have a lower life expectancy.
In 2007 there were 141,246 deaths in NHB women and 1,050,200 in white women, a ratio of 1 to 7.4.
Final data for 2007. National vital statistics reports; vol 58 no 19.
From breast cancer in NHB women there were 5,799 deaths and 33,485 in white women, a ratio of 1 to 5.7. Breast cancer is a relatively small cause of death in women, only about 3.2% of white women and 4.1% of NHB women.
For complications of childbirth there were 484 and 918 deaths NHB vs white. For cancer of the uterus & cervix there were 2100 and 8,999. For accidents there were 4,291 and 38,193. For suicide there were 352 and 6,623. For homicides there were 1,286 and 2,373. For HIV there were 2,284 and 875, one of the very few causes of death where more black women died than white women.
For a few causes of death there are excess deaths in NHB women compared to white women.
Looking at the pattern of death rates, it is plausible that lack of access to health care is a causal factor.
It is well known that NHB women are poorer than white women. It is well known that poverty correlates with a lack of access to good health care. It is well known that a lack of access to good health care correlates with not as good health.
Why are you shocked that excess breast cancer deaths would be attributed to known differences between the two populations that are known to affect outcomes?
I don't think we should look at who gets to have treatment (most people get it from the hospital eventually), but at who continues to live happily after the treatment and who will later die in a cardboard box because off debt.
Poor women will go to a doctor if they know they have breast cancer, but they won't go to regular check ups that cost them money.
There is enough medical care available in the United States, but it's overpriced and not affordable to a large segment of the population.
Man, I can't imagine the stress of not knowing for sure if you'll be taken care of when you get sick or get in an accident... How do people live like that? Is this why 11% of Americans are taking anti-depressants?
"It would be nine months before she told herself it was time to act... genetics play only a small role in the disparity..."
*cough* future time orientation *cough*