Women of African descent may have an elevated risk of being diagnosed with advanced endometrial cancer and developing aggressive tumors compared with White women, according to a recent study published by Medina et al in Cancer.
Background
Endometrial cancer is classified as endometrioid or the more aggressive nonendometrioid based on the appearance and genetic alterations of the tumor cells.
Study Methods and Results
In the recent study, investigators compared the endometrial cancer incidence rate as well as overall and subtype trends in 34,789 women of African descent from Florida and the French Caribbean—specifically, the islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe—from 2005 to 2018.
Here are some of the new findings:
- Caribbean Black women had the lowest incidence rate for both endometrioid and nonendometrioid subtypes.
- The nonendometrioid subtype was diagnosed 2.6 times more among U.S. Black women (n = 9.2/100,000) than it was among U.S. White women.
- For the endometrioid subtype, incidence rates increased 1.8% per year from 2005 to 2018 for U.S. Black women and 1.2% per year for U.S. White women—although no change was observed for Caribbean Black women.
- Incidence rates for the more aggressive nonendometrioid subtype increased by 5.6% per year among U.S. Black women, 4.4% per year among Caribbean Black women, and 3.9% per year among U.S. White women.
Conclusions
“This study informs the current scientific evidence about endometrial cancer risk among a diverse sample of women [of African descent], highlighting that within group differences matter among Black women,” emphasized lead study author Heidy N. Medina, PhD, MPH, a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. “Our study suggests that these differences among Black women in different regions of the world are partly [the result of] social factors associated with assigned race rather than purely African ancestry–related factors based on genetic origin,” she underscored.
The researchers noted that their findings demonstrated the need to stop applying results from Black women in the United States to other women of African descent globally, where limited data exist. “This signals the need for coordinated efforts around the world in identifying disparities, emphasizing the importance of strong cancer surveillance systems and registries throughout different regions, and the necessity for there to be a greater priority among the global health community in allocating resources to improve data collection for cancer registries worldwide,” Dr. Medina suggested.
The researchers concluded that tracking the increasing rates of the more aggressive nonendometrioid subtypes of endometrial cancer and identifying risk factors associated with these malignancies may be necessary.
Disclosure: For full disclosures of the study authors, visit acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com.
