Colonoscopy plea for black patients
Black men and women urged to arrange colonoscopy screenings due to higher prevalence of colon polyps
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Wednesday, 24, Sep 2008 09:33
Black men and women are being urged to arrange colonoscopy screenings due to a higher prevalence of colon polyps.
A study published in JAMA today says that while colorectal cancer death-rates in white patients have fallen over the last two decades, incidence rates in black men and women have gone up.
Black men and women are 38 per cent and 43 per cent more likely to die from colorectal cancer.
Today's research partly attributes the statistic to an increased risk of polyps - tumours that can transform into colon cancer over time.
Researchers measured the prevalence of polyps in almost 5,500 black patients and 80,000 white patients.
They found 7.7 per cent of black patients had one or more polyps 9mm across compared to 6.2 per cent of white patients.
"Colorectal cancer screening might be less effective in black individuals, if there are racial differences in the age-adjusted prevalence and location of cancer precursor lesions," the study authors write.
"In summary, we find that asymptomatic black men and women undergoing colonoscopy screening are more likely to have one or more polyps... more than 9mm compared with white individuals. The differences were especially striking among women. These findings emphasise the importance of encouraging all black men and women to be screened."