Rates of Endometrial Cancer Vary for U.S., Caribbean Black Women

MONDAY, June 26, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Caribbean Black women have lower rates of endometrioid and nonendometrioid endometrial cancer (EC) than U.S. non-Hispanic Black women, according to a study published online June 26 in Cancer.

Heidy N. Medina, Ph.D., M.P.H., from the University of Miami School of Medicine, and colleagues examined EC vulnerability among a wider spectrum of African descent populations. Based on cancer registry data, 34,789 EC cases were analyzed from Florida (2005 to 2018), Martinique (2005 to 2018), and Guadeloupe (2008 to 2018).

The researchers found that the lowest rates for endometrioid and nonendometrioid subtypes were seen for Caribbean Black women. Nonendometrioid types were most common among U.S. non-Hispanic Blacks (9.2 per 100,000), with incidence much higher than among non-Hispanic Whites (incidence rate ratio, 2.60). For endometrioid EC, the rates increased 1.8 and 1.2 percent yearly from 2005 to 2018 for U.S. non-Hispanic Blacks and U.S. non-Hispanic Whites, respectively, while no change was seen for Caribbean Blacks. For nonendometrioid carcinomas, the rates increased 5.6, 4.4, and 3.9 percent for U.S. non-Hispanic Blacks, Caribbean Blacks, and non-Hispanic Whites, respectively.

"This study informs the current scientific evidence about endometrial cancer risk among a diverse sample of African descent women, highlighting that within-group differences matter among Black women," Medina said in a statement. "Our study suggests that these differences among Black women in different regions of the world are partly due to social factors associated with assigned race rather than purely African ancestry-related factors based on genetic origin."

Two authors disclosed ties to industry.

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