Although overall colorectal cancer rates are lower Native Americans than in whites, there are significant regional differences that show a marked increase in colorectal cancer in Alaskan Natives and Native Americans who live in the Northwest Plains.

Alaskan Natives and Alaskan Indians were twice as likely to have colorectal cancer as non-Hispanic whites, and five times as likely as Native Americans living in the Southwest.  Native Americans in the Northern Plains were diagnosed with colon or rectal cancer about 40 percent more often than whites.

Alaska natives also were diagnosed with advanced colorectal cancer almost twice as often as white Americans.

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When minority men and women felt that they were being discriminated against by their health care providers, they were less likely to be screened for breast or colorectal cancer. Read the rest of this entry »

Despite being referred to specialists at the same rate as whites, African Americans with rectal cancer receive chemotherapy and radiation treatment after surgery less often.

Studying SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results) and Medicare data from 1992 through 1999, researchers found no significant difference in the percentage of patients who were referred to either medical or radiation oncologists.  There were fewer referred to both specialists — 49 percent of blacks saw both a radiation and medical oncologist compared to 59 percent of whites. Read the rest of this entry »