There is a disturbing report out tonight that says minority women, who are at the highest risk for having aggressive breast cancer, are simply not getting their mammograms.

Now, we keep hearing study after study showing how there are ethnic disparities in healthcare. But, mammograms are available for most women regardless of socioeconomic status. So, why minority women are still needlessly facing aggressive, advanced breast cancers?

“It was small it was only like one centimeter.” Shirley Hill considers herself lucky…even though she has taken matters into her own hands and gotten an annual mammogram since she was 40. Her breast cancer was diagnosed at an early stage. “That is what happens when you detect it early, you are more fortunate and I had no lymph nodes.”

But African American women like Shirley are absolutely behind the eight ball when it comes to breast cancer screening and detection, according to the latest study in the annals of internal medicine.

First off, African American women who get breast cancer are simply at higher risk for a worse prognosis. “Their tumors are more aggressive so even if they have had it for a shorter time it is growing faster,” says Dr. Alison Estabrook, Chief of The Comprehensive Breast Center at St. Luke’s—Roosevelt Medical Center.

So this is a population about which we should be most concerned!

“The African American population should be screened more aggressively some people even say to screen them at a younger age at 35 rather than 40. Maybe screened by mammography at one year and maybe every six months by sonography or something like that,” says Dr. Estabrook.

But this latest research shows these women fall way short of that--they are significantly less likely to be screened by mammogram. Clearly African American women are not getting screened with mammograms. But the question is, why? Physicians are typically the ones who order the mammograms, so are the women not getting to the doctor, or if they are, are the doctors not ordering the mammograms?

“So we are also worried about what kind of physicians are seeing these woman, are they following the guidelines not only for breast cancer but colorectal cancer for skin cancer for cervical cancer,” questions Dr. Estabrook. The problem probably lies with the doctors, the women, and in the healthcare profession and minority advocacy in general.

“Somehow the communities and churches should continue to reach out to the woman, a lot of times as single woman or as nurturers we don’t take care of ourselves as we should and I just think they really need to know the importance of getting early detection,” says Shirley.

Dr. Estabrook reiterates there are free screening clinics, and these clinics, if a problem is found, can help a woman with her insurance and Medicare and Medicaid if that’s an issue. Overcoming the distrust of the medical community by the African American population is a tougher hurdle to overcome, but that is actively being discussed.

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