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For Latinas of Mexican or Puerto Rican decent, breast cancer is more likely to be fatal than for other U.S. Latinas, according to a new study from the Avon Foundation for Women, USA Today reports.
The research is the first of its kind on Latino subgroups.
It showed that breast cancer mortality rates differed for Cubans, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Central and South American women with breast cancer in the United States.
The findings have implications for how Latinas receive care and treatment.
“A critical first step to improving breast cancer prevention, diagnosis and care for Hispanic women is understanding where the greatest needs are,” said Cheryl Heinonen, Avon Foundation president to USA Today. “The more we know, the better we will be at improving care, quality of life and survival rates.”
Breast cancer remains the most commonly diagnosed cancer for Latinas and it is the leading cause of cancer-related death for Latinas.
The mortality rate for Puerto Rican women with breast cancer in the U.S. is 19.04 deaths per 100,000 women and it is 18.78 per 100,000 for Mexicans. For Cubans, the rate is 17.89 per 100,000. Central and South American women, had much lower mortality rates, at 10.15 deaths per 100,000 women.
“Knowing that the mortality risk is higher for Puerto Rican and Mexican women with breast cancer can absolutely help to inform caregivers, patient navigators and physicians,” Heinonen said.
Latinas overall lag behind Non-Hispanic white women. The data determined that 17.71 breast cancer deaths per 100,000 women vs. 22.49 for white women.
“Low-income Latinos are more likely to have low health literacy and health knowledge, live in low-resourced communities and experience chronic stress such as money worries and everyday racism (that often accompanies poverty),” Claudia Campos Galván, survivorship program director for Nueva Vida said in the same interview.
By The Numbers
25.1
percent
of Latinos remain without health insurance coverage
