NORWICH, England, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- U.S., British and Italian researchers find African and African-American women are more likely to die of breast cancer than their white counterparts.
The study, published in The International Journal of Surgery, suggests that African and African-American women tend to get the disease before menopause -- the average age of breast-cancer diagnosis in African-American women is 46, compared with 57 for European Americans.
The researchers suggest the reason for the finding is not access to medical care, but because surgery in pre-menopausal women could encourage growth of the cancer.
"Surgery to remove a primary tumor induces the formation of new blood vessels -- known as angiogenesis," says Dr. Isaac Gukas of the University of East Anglia's School of Medicine. "In pre-menopausal women who have high levels of estrogen and other hormones, this may encourage the growth of the tumor."
Early detection through mammography is more effective in post-menopausal women, and more white women are diagnosed after menopause -- this could explain the disparity in mortality, according to Gukas.
