Black women more likely to get, die from endometrial cancer

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A new study has revealed that endometrial cancer, a type of disease that affects the uterus, is found to be deadlier among black women than other racial groups.

The study published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention reveals that non-Hispanic black women have been found to have a higher incidence rate of contracting aggressive endometrial cancer.

According to the researchers, endometrial cancer is on the rise as the fourth most common cancer in women in the United States. This prompted them to look at the cancer registry data from 2000 to 2011, and found that black women had a higher incidence rate of developing a more aggressive form of endometrial cancer.

As for the odds of surviving the cancer, when compared to non-Hispanic white women, researchers found that the five-year survival for black women were poorer in almost every stage and subtype. However, Hispanic and Asian women had better survival rates or the same.

Lead author Michele Cote at Detroit's Karmanos Cancer Institute in Wayne State University was baffled by the results and could not conclude why black women have a higher risk for endometrial cancer.

"We have worked over the last decade to try to disentangle the various factors associated with survival," Cote told Fox News. "It is highly complex, with socioeconomic factors and access to care certain to play a role. In addition, we believe that there are differences in tumor biology that we have yet to identify that make the disease more aggressive in black women."

The scientists noted that their research is limited to having not being unable to verify the cancer stage and tumor of the women in the study. However, the inevitable misclassification would not affect the study as it may not be connected to ethnicity or race.

Endometrial cancer or uterine cancer is a disease that starts at the endometrium, the inner lining of the uterus. According to Mayo Clinic, abnormal vaginal bleeding is one of the earliest signs of the cancer. Other signs and symptoms of endometrial cancer include pelvic pain, painful intercourse, vaginal bleeding between periods or after menopause and bloody vaginal discharge.

Treatment options for endometrial cancer include hysterectomy, radiation therapy, hormone therapy and chemotherapy.

However, Dr. Robert DeBernardo, a research fellow in Ohio's Cleveland Clinic who is not involved in the study, said that the more aggressive forms of the cancer can be more challenging to treat.

"Aggressive endometrial cancers are difficult to treat and cure in the best of hands, and without access to specialists it is likely women are not receiving the best therapies and unlikely they have access to clinical trials," Dr. DeBernardo said in an e-mail to Fox. According to Examiner, the rise in the incidence of endometrial cancer may be due to obesity.