NASHVILLE, April 20 (UPI) -- Blacks may be more likely to die from colorectal cancer because they are less likely to have adequate health insurance, U.S. researchers say.
A study published in the March issue of Cancer Causes and Control says racial disparities vanish when patients have the same insurance coverage.
Researchers at Meharry Medical College and Vanderbilt University Medical Center tracked 949 elderly cancer patients from around Tennessee, all with combined Medicare and Medicaid coverage. They found similar death rates for blacks and whites.
A number of surveys have confirmed that blacks have a higher death rate generally from colorectal cancer, even taking age, gender, and cancer state into consideration. But a nationwide study of patients at Veteran's Administration hospitals -- all of them men -- found no racial difference.
The new report extends that study to women.
