Health Disparities between Black Hispanic and Black Non-Hispanic Cervical Cancer Cases in the USA

Abstract

<b>Background:</b> Globally, cervical cancer is a major public health concern. Cervical cancer is the second mostcommon cancer among women, resulting in approximately 500,000 cases per year. The purpose of this study isto compare disease characteristics between Black Hispanic (BH) and Black non-Hispanic (BNH) women in theUS. Materials and <br/><b>Methods</b>: We used stratified random sampling to select cervical cancer patient records fromthe SEER database (1973-2009). We used Chi-square and independent samples t-test to examine differences inproportions and means. <br/><b>Results</b>: The sample included 2,000 cervical cancer cases of Black non-Hispanic and 91Black Hispanic women. There were statistically significant differences between black Hispanic and black non-Hispanics in mean age at diagnosis (p<0.001), mean survival time (p<0.001), marital status (p<0.001), primarysite of cancer (p<0.001); lymph node involvement (p<0.001); grading and differentiation (p<0.0001); and tumorbehavior (p<0.001). Black women were more likely to develop cervical cancer and to have the highest mortalityrates from the disease. <br/><b>Conclusions</b>: Findings from this study show clear racial and ethnic disparities in cervicalcancer incidence and prognosis that should be addressed.