New Study Aims To Uncover The Reasons Behind Cancer In Black Women

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Well, as you already know, October is breast Cancer Awareness month, and we also know that black women in this country have worse outcomes. So that's why it's really important for women, especially black women, to get their mammogram screening starting at age 40. So with me on the phone is a dear friend and breast radiation oncologist at Henry Ford, health doctor Eleanor Walker. How are you? [00:00:27] Speaker B: Hello, Randy. It's great to hear from you. [00:00:30] Speaker A: It's great to hear from you as well. One of the first things I remember when you introduced yourself is that you would hope that you would never have to see me with what you do. And a lot of that is due to lack of early screening, lack of knowledge. But one of the things that I want to talk to you about is something that you told me about. It's called the ACS voices of black women's study. Can you tell us a little bit about the study and why they chose Michigan as one of the places that they want to concentrate on this study? [00:01:04] Speaker B: Yes, this is a fabulous study. It's very important. As you just mentioned, breast cancer in particular, occurs at a rate close to that of white women. But we have a 38% higher mortality rate than any other women in this country as black women. So we need to know why is that? We've made such great strides, but we don't know what are the drivers leading to this increase in incidence over the last few years? Definitely the high mortality and also resilience of cancer and other health conditions that can occur among black women in the US. So we want to better understand how to address them. [00:01:53] Speaker A: So this is a long term study, and they chose Michigan and metro Detroit as one of the areas that they want to concentrate on. Why is that? [00:02:03] Speaker B: Well, this is a 30 year study. We're just asking you to fill out a questionnaire twice a year with the goal to recruit 100,000 black women, because in Michigan, at least 3000 black women would be likely to participate, because it's one of the 20 states that has 90% of black women living in it, which is why we were chosen. So we're trying to recruit women who do not have breast cancer or any cancer, who are of the ages from 25 to 55 and live in the geographic areas, such as Michigan, where we see 90% of black women living and working. [00:02:48] Speaker A: So it makes a lot of sense that you would get into high density areas like Detroit, in the outer regions of Detroit. [00:02:57] Speaker B: Absolutely. Absolutely. And what we want to do is understand how is it that cancer develops in our population, what may be some of the cancer risk factors and also learn how to improve our survivorships and outcome. Okay. Because we know the American Cancer Society did the population studies that first show the connection between cigarette smoking and lung cancer. [00:03:25] Speaker A: Right. [00:03:25] Speaker B: The connection with obesity, with the risk of early death, and red and processed meats with higher colorectal cancer. And as we know this, in the last few years, younger people, men and women under 50, have been having increased rates of colon and breast cancer. We need to get ahead of this. [00:03:51] Speaker A: Absolutely. I know that they have done so many studies, like you said. And is this a new study? [00:03:58] Speaker B: This is brand new. This is something that we're trying to do for black women. Black women are so important. You know, many times we're the health coach in the family. We're the ones that get people to take care of themselves. And we should be able to have questions answered as to why we tend to get such aggressive diseases and die from it more than others. So it's not just breast cancer, although we're talking about in breast cancer awareness month. [00:04:28] Speaker A: Right. [00:04:28] Speaker B: It's for all camp. [00:04:30] Speaker A: So it's important that the person that tries to get into the study, 25 to 55, correct? [00:04:37] Speaker B: Correct. I'm going to get my nieces and my goddaughters all on this study. [00:04:43] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. If they've never had any cancer whatsoever, this will be very important for the african american community at large, but also for the American Cancer society and doctors like you to actually know what is driving this. [00:05:00] Speaker B: Absolutely. Because we really need to figure it out. And the important thing is you're just answering behavioral, environmental, and lived experiences in these questions. It's just short surveys, and it doesn't require any medication, no clinical testing, no treatment or change of your lifestyle. We wanna know what you do every day and how it may or may not influence your cancer risk. [00:05:30] Speaker A: And over the years, this can bring up a lot of help for our women. And people who have developed cancer died early. I can see where this could be a great help. [00:05:41] Speaker B: Oh, absolutely. In fact, you know, we expect that within five years of getting patients on the study, we'll start getting information, because we'll be able to see what things may be impacting patients. I mean, I've been a participant in the black women's health study for about 30 years now. Just got my questionnaire to figure it out. And they have found very interesting things for black women, and not just cancer, but just their health in general. So this is really new, specific to black women looking at the drivers of cancer. [00:06:22] Speaker A: Well, it sounds like a fantastic study, and in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. How does someone become a part of. [00:06:30] Speaker B: This important study in lowercase voices? Dot cancer.org dot. So visit voices all in lowercase dot cancer.org is the website and you can learn more and enroll. I think this is very important. Our voices are very important. [00:06:53] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:06:54] Speaker B: Let's join this study. [00:06:56] Speaker A: Thank you so much. And I'll make sure to put this on the website as well. Doctor Eleanor Walker, my friend, thank you so much. [00:07:03] Speaker B: You are welcome. It is my pleasure. And thank you so much for allowing me to come on your show and educate our sisters.