Breast cancer – black women are more likely to be diagnosed at later stages

African American women are more likely than white women to die of breast cancer and to be diagnosed at later stages of the disease.

Researchers have long wondered why this is true and have considered lack of health insurance as a likely factor.

Women’s eNews reports on a study, released during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which links this delay in diagnosis to race.

According to the study, race and/or ethnicity (rather than insurance status) is the leading cause for these delays in breast cancer diagnosis in minority women.

Researchers at George Washington University in Washington, DC, say they were surprised to find that among women with health insurance, African American and Hispanic women experienced greater delays in diagnosing breast cancer than Caucasian women.