The Role Of Immunity For The Racial Disparities Of Cancer

Among minorities such as Asians, Hispanics, Indians, Native Americans, and Middle Easterners, the African American race has been affected tremendously by the health disparities in the United States. Currently, African Americans have significantly higher mortality rates from cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, HIV, unintentional injuries, pregnancy, sudden infant death syndrome, and homicide than do whites Americans (Fiscella & Williams, 2004). While African Americans may lead in these categories, other minorities are not far behind in experiencing health disparities.

The incidence of cancer is higher in Black Americans, both men and women, than non-Hispanic Whites. Men are more likely to have lung, pancreatic and stomach cancer. They are more likely to die from prostate cancer. Black African American women are 36% more likely to die from breast cancer.

In today’s society, there are many different factors that can contribute to one’s overall health and well-being. Since there are so many different factors that can affect one’s health, there are inequalities that exist among people and this is knows as health disparity. "Health disparities are differences in the incidence, prevalence, mortality, and burden of diseases and other adverse health conditions that exist among specific population groups in the United States” (Nhlbi.nih.gov, 2015). Health disparities can be associated with factors such as: socioeconomic status, education, gender, race, ethnicity, age, mental health, and religion. There are certain health problems that can affect different groups more than others, such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and HIV/AIDS (Surgeongeneral.gov, 2015). One example of a specific population in the United States that is affected by health disparities is the African American Population. While African Americans are affected by various health disparities, one that affects this population more prominently is heart disease.

Health disparities endure tenacious issues in the United States of America, setting certain groups at higher risk of being uninsured, limited access to care, facing a poorer quality of care, and overall negative health outcomes. The high incidence of health disparities reflects the range of individual, social, economic, racial/ethnic and environmental magnitudes. Among the minority groups, African-Americans disproportionately access health care and the health disparities clearly glow in the nationwide.

The United States is a melting pot of cultural diversity. For a country that was founded by individuals fleeing persecution, it has taken us many years to grant African-Americans equal rights, and even longer for those rights to be recognized. Despite all the effort to eliminate inequality in this country, health disparity among this minority group remains a significant issue. Research in this area has pointed to several key reasons for this gap that center on differences in culture, socioeconomics, and lack of health literacy.

Declining cancer incidence and mortality rates in the United States have continued through the first decade of the twenty-first century. However, Black Americans continue to have the higher cancer mortality rates and shorter survival times. This review discusses and compares only breast and prostate cancer mortality rates and mortality trends for Blacks and Whites. The complex relationship between socioeconomic status and race and its contribution to racial cancer disparities is discussed.

Despite vast advancements in healthcare African-American men lack appropriate necessities when it comes to health care. Continuous efforts to bridge the gap among African American men with prostate cancer still remains high in the United States. Evidence shows how disproportionate this ethnic population leads in both incidence and mortality rate concerning social determinants of health, as well as health disparities. Major key factors that contribute to this health disparity among African Americans men are low socioeconomic status (SES) and being medically offered inadequate services. According to Richardson et al. (2004), "Prostate cancer (PCa) is most common and the second leading cause of cancer death among American men." However, prostate cancer incidence and mortality rates are higher in African-American men, as compared to other race. One of the main barriers hindering the care of this ethnic population is the lack of knowledge. As an Advanced Nurse Practitioners, it is crucial to identify areas in SDoH and health disparities that affect African American men health. False perceptions, misunderstanding and improper information must be replaced with factual information, and communicated accurately (Richardson et al. 2004).

In the Article Socioeconomic Disparities in Breast Cancer Treatment among Older Women States, “Approximately 200,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer and 40,500 die from the disease…White women have a higher of this disease than black women. However, black women have a higher mortality than white women (White, et al. 7)”. Breast Cancer is a health disparity to black women because they’re most likely to die from it than white women due to tumor differences. Many woman not only black women die from cancer because they chose not to go through chemotherapy, but According to the article Socioeconomic Disparities in Breast Cancer Treatment Among Older Women says, “Black women with node positive and node negative tumors were 25% and 17% less likely to receive chemotherapy than white women. Black people are more likely to die not only because they don’t receive chemotherapy but because of patient and tumor characteristic, and after adjusting for socioeconomic (White, et al.1)”. Breast Cancer is a huge health disparity to black women because most of them can’t survive with this disease than white

Health disparities among African-Americans is a continuing problem that has been seen over many years. African-Americans have higher poverty rates, have lower rates of insurance coverage, and are more likely to be covered by Medicaid, than the White population (Copeland, 2005). This lack of insurance has led many of these individuals, to not seek treatment for illness, due to problem accessing health care (Kennedy, 2013). This leaves African-Americans with little to no treatment, which causes an increase of medical care that will be needed further on in their life or a sooner than expected death, caused by illness (Copeland, 2005).

Health disparities amongst African-Americans continue to destabilize not just the various communities but the health care system as a whole. Minority groups especially African-Americans are more probable to agonize from certain health illnesses, have higher mortality rates and lower life expectancy than another other race in the nation. Health disparities are complex and incorporate lifestyle choices, socioeconomic factors such as income, education and employment and access to care services. For the elimination of health disparities within the African-American community, there requires a need for equivalent access to health care and cultural suitable health ingenuities.

Minority health disparities continue to be a pervasive problem within the United States.The Institute of Medicine defines disparity as, “differences in treatment provided to members of different racial or ethnic groups that are not justified by underlying health conditions or preferences” (Snowden 526). Despite adjustments made to access-related factors, insurance and income, minorities still tend receive lower-quality health care than whites (Flores, Olsen and Tomany-Korman 183). According to the Centers for Disease Control, “Relatively little progress has been made toward the goal of eliminating racial/ethnic disparities” (Gronman and Ginsburg 226). In this paper, I will describe the different health disparities that racial, ethnic and sexual minorities experience throughout their lives. I will then discuss the policies health care providers and government entities have put in place in order to eliminate the disparities between minorities and whites.

A biological influence on this health disparity is a genetic predisposition seen in African American men. Several studies have shown a chromosome that is more common in African American men that increases the risk of prostate cancer. The chromosome is 8q24 variants, which is the most commonly seen, as well as, BCL2 and EphB2 linking to a higher incidence of prostate cancer (Modlin, 2012). The genetic predisposition has also been proven to cause prostate cancer to be a more aggressive disease in African Americans, likely leading to the higher mortality rates. The behavioral influence of being less likely to get screened and the biological influence of a genetic predisposition interact to influence the health disparity.

What is Mr. Watt’s risk factors related to colon cancer? Consider all aspects of his health, his family history and his culture.

This journal serves as a quintessential and pertinent model for our project. There are a myriad of variables in why minorities continue to face health disparities. This journal analytically provides the backdrop in how cancer incidence, mortality, and survival rates corresponds to one's race and socioeconomic status. Socioeconomic status is one of the greatest implications leading to the production of cancer, if not remedy. Socioecomonic status is an umbrella term used in this article which includes poverty, inadequate education, lack of health insurance, tobacco use, poor nutrition, physical inactivity, and obesity.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer, accounting for 9.5% of all incident cancer cases and one of the leading causes of the cancer-related deaths worldwide 1. The recent International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) report estimated that every year there are about one million new cases of CRC diagnosed worldwide and half a million deaths2. There is a large variation in CRC incidence rates between countries, with more cases in first-world countries and fewer in developing countries. Like most Western countries in recent decades, Canada has had a relatively stable age-standardized incidence rate and a slightly declining mortality rate of CRC3. However, past decades have seen significant increases in both incidence and mortality rates of CRC in Chinese population4,5. Tianjin, the third largest city located in the east coastal area in China,