Racioethnic Disparities in Endometrial Cancer Outcomes

Diagnostics (Basel). 2024 Feb 14;14(4):417. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics14040417.

Abstract

Black women are twice as likely to die from endometrial cancer (EC) compared with white women. This represents one of the worst racioethnic disparities amongst all cancers globally. Compared with white women, black women are more likely to be diagnosed with advanced EC, have more barriers to accessing care and experience increased delays in obtaining an EC diagnosis and commencing treatment. Histological and molecular differences place black women at higher risk of being diagnosed with more aggressive EC subtypes that carry less favourable outcomes. Furthermore, EC diagnostic pathways are less reliable in black women, and black women are less likely to receive evidence-based treatment for EC. This racioethnic disparity in EC outcomes exists both in the UK and US, despite differences in healthcare systems. This review methodically describes the key factors along the patient journey that contribute to the disparity in black women and proposes multifaceted approaches to lessen these gaps.

Keywords: black women; endometrial cancer; endometrial cancer disparities; racial disparities.

Publication types

  • Review

Grants and funding

A.G.-M. is funded by Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Institute for Women’s Health Core Funding and the MRC Core Funding (MC_UU_00004 and MC_UU_12023). No other authors have relevant financial disclosures.