Editorial Encourages Minority Women To Sign Up For Sister Study Looking At Breast Cancer

Main Category: Breast Cancer
Article Date: 11 Dec 2007 - 11:00 PDT

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Black women are "not showing up for mammograms early and often enough," which contributes to a higher incidence of breast cancer and mortality rate from the disease, a Philadelphia Inquirer editorial says. According to the editorial, part of the reason for black women's "delay is a 'what I don't know can't hurt me' mentality."

Access to care; differences in diet, exercise, and alcohol and tobacco use between black and white women; and the roles of genetics and the environment should be addressed, the editorial states.

The editorial points to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences' effort to recruit 50,000 women who had a sister with breast cancer to participate in the Sister Study. The study aims to determine how environment and genetics affect a woman's risk of breast cancer, and minority women participants are "[p]articularly needed," the editorial says. It adds, "If you're a sister, and especially if you're a sistah, sign up for the Sister Study -- and make an appointment for a mammogram."

The editorial says, "Women need to be armed with all the information available to fight this disease" (Philadelphia Inquirer, 12/10).

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