Cancer continues to be more deadly for Blacks than Whites (hint – low Vitamin D) – May 2022

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Trends in Cancer Mortality Among Black Individuals in the US From 1999 to 2019

JAMA Oncol. Published online May 19, 2022. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2022.1472
Wayne R. Lawrence, DrPH1; Jennifer K. McGee-Avila, PhD1; Jacqueline B. Vo, PhD1; et alQianlai Luo, PhD1; Yingxi Chen, MD, PhD1; Maki Inoue-Choi, PhD1; Amy Berrington de González, DPhil1; Neal D. Freedman, PhD1; Meredith S. Shiels, PhD1

Key Points
Questions How did cancer mortality among Black individuals change in the US from 1999 to 2019 by age, sex, and cancer site, and how did 2019 cancer mortality rates among Black individuals compare with rates in other racial and ethnic groups?

Findings In this cross-sectional study of 1 361 663 deaths from cancer among Black individuals, although cancer mortality decreased considerably among Black individuals from 1999 to 2019, the cancer mortality rate was higher among Black men and women than in other racial and ethnic groups in 2019.

Meaning The findings suggest that resources should be allocated toward eliminating social inequalities and barriers throughout the cancer control continuum that contribute to substantially higher cancer mortality rates among Black men and women.

Abstract
Importance Cancer is the second leading cause of mortality in the US. Despite national decreases in cancer mortality, Black individuals continue to have the highest cancer death rates.

Objective To examine national trends in cancer mortality from 1999 to 2019 among Black individuals by demographic characteristics and to compare cancer death rates in 2019 among Black individuals with rates in other racial and ethnic groups.

Design, Setting, and Participants This serial cross-sectional study used US national death certificate data obtained from the National Center for Health Statistics and included all cancer deaths among individuals aged 20 years or older from January 1999 to December 2019. Data were analyzed from June 2021 to January 2022.

Exposures Age, sex, and race and ethnicity.

Main Outcomes and Measures Trends in age-standardized mortality rates and average annual percent change (AAPC) in rates were estimated by cancer type, age, sex, and race and ethnicity.

Results From 1999 to 2019, 1 361 663 million deaths from cancer occurred among Black individuals. The overall cancer death rate significantly decreased among Black men (AAPC, −2.6%; 95% CI, −2.6% to −2.6%) and women (AAPC, −1.5%; 95% CI, −1.7% to −1.3%). Death rates decreased for most cancer types, with the greatest decreases observed for lung cancer among men (AAPC, −3.8%; 95% CI, −4.0% to −3.6%) and stomach cancer among women (AAPC, −3.4%; 95% CI, −3.6% to −3.2%). Lung cancer mortality also had the largest absolute decreases among men (−78.5 per 100 000 population) and women (−19.5 per 100 000 population). We observed a significant increase in deaths from liver cancer among men (AAPC, 3.8%; 95% CI, 3.0%-4.6%) and women (AAPC, 1.8%; 95% CI, 1.2%-2.3%) aged 65 to 79 years. There was also an increasing trend in uterus cancer mortality among women aged 35 to 49 years (2.9%; 95% CI, 2.3% to 2.6%), 50 to 64 years (2.3%; 95% CI, 2.0% to 2.6%), and 65 to 79 years (1.6%; 95% CI, 1.2% to 2.0%). In 2019, Black men and women had the highest cancer mortality rates compared with non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian or Pacific Islander, and White individuals and Hispanic/Latino individuals.

Conclusions and Relevance In this cross-sectional study, there were substantial decreases in cancer death rates among Black individuals from 1999 to 2019, but higher cancer death rates among Black men and women compared with other racial and ethnic groups persisted in 2019. Targeted interventions appear to be needed to eliminate social inequalities that contribute to Black individuals having higher cancer mortality.
 Study PDF
 Supplement PDF - men and women, not Black and White

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VitaminDWiki Dark-skin pages with CANCER in the title (29 as of May 2022)

This list is automatically updated

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VitaminDWiki - Overview Dark Skin and Vitamin D contains

FACT - - People with dark skins have more health problems and higher mortality rate than those with light skins
FACT - - People with dark skins have low levels of vitamin D
FACT - - People with light skins who have low vitamin D have health problems
OBSERVATION - - The health problems of whites with low level of vitamin D are similar to those with dark skins
CONCLUSION - - People with dark skins have more health problems due to low levels of vitamin D
African American Health Disparities are associated with low Vitamin D - Grant Feb 2021
Low Vitamin D increases health problems - independent of skin color

Dark Skin studies: Pregnancy (30 studies),  Genetics (13 studies),  Vitamin D Binding Protein (8 studies),  Vitamin D Receptor (7 studies),  Diabetes (24 studies),   Cardiovascular (18 studies),  Mortality (12 studies), Intervention (16 studies) Click here to see the studies

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VitaminDWiki - Blacks die more often than whites of many diseases (they have less vitamin D) – 2012 contains

Cancer Facts & Figures for African Americans Cancer.org

• “African Americans have the highest death rate and shortest survival of any racial and ethnic group in the US for most cancers”
• Has a huge number of tables and charts, Note: Vitamin D is not mentioned

Leading Causes of Death as of March 2018

All Ages Death rate	Black	White	Ratio
Heart diseases	217	171	1.27
Cancer	199	170	1.17
Cerebrovascular diseases	51	36	1.4
Diabetes	40	19	2.0

Rates per 100,000    Age adjusted   Non-Hispanic

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Blacks die younger than whites - 2021

Flowingdata

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VitaminDWiki - Skin - Dark shows some associated health problems

468 items below see also Overview Dark Skin and Vitamin D,  Dark skin pregnancies and Vitamin D - many studies,  High Risk,   "Sickle Cell"

Dark Skin studies : Pregnancy (30 ),  Genetics (13 ),  Vitamin D Binding Protein (8 ),  Vitamin D Receptor (7 ),  Diabetes (24 ),   Cardiovascular (18 ),  Mortality (12 )