Young black UK women are less likely than young white women to survive breast cancer

Black women in the United Kingdom who have breast cancer that was diagnosed before they reached 41 years of age have poorer overall survival than white women of the same age, a study has found. Black women are more likely to have larger tumours and to have more aggressive and recurrent disease, it found.

Previous studies from the United States have identified tumour biology and unequal access to healthcare as causes of higher mortality from breast cancer among black ethnic groups. But the researchers from Southampton University wanted to find out whether pathology, treatment, and outcomes among young women with breast cancer differed across ethnic groups in the UK, where there is equal access to healthcare through the NHS. Because the women were under the age …