That Happened!

New York -In the united states colorectal cancer is ranked third among all cancer types.

Although colorectal cancer diagnoses has fallen in the United States the gap is widening between white Americans and blacks. Blacks have a significanly higher mortality rate than whites as it relates to colon cancer.

Blacks are also being diagnosed at a higher rate than whites.

A reason for this gap in the rate of diagnoses and mortality may be the fact that blacks are not scheduling colonoscopy check-ups with their physicians, and are therefore not being diagnosed and treated before cancer has a chance to spread. Along with a colonoscopy other screening tools are the sigmoidoscopy and the fecal occult test.

Colon cancer is a malignancy that arises from the inner lining of the colon, therefore scheduling an annual colonoscopy is something that could drastically increase the survival rate of colon cancer.

“Colorectal cancer incidence and mortality rates have been declining among the general population in the United States for some time,” said Elizabeth Ward, one of the report’s authors.

“We are seeing much greater declines among whites than among African Americans. And we think the primary reason for that is different access to and utilization of colorectal cancer screening tests,” Ward said in a telephone interview with Reuters.

Causes of colon cancer include a high red meat consumption, a high fat diet, family history of the disease, obesity, and lack of exercise. Colon cancer is a disease that is both preventable and cureable and with regular check-ups and screenings this widening gap can be closed.