Breast Cancer Research On Risks For Black Women Through National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Overall survival rates for women with breast cancer have improved dramatically in recent decades. But according to UPI, black women are still more likely to die from the disease and are more likely to be diagnosed with more aggressive forms of it. In an effort to explain differences in breast cancer occurrence, severity and death among black women, researchers at the National Institutes of Health announced on Thursday they are launching a large study of genetics they hope will lead to better treatment. A $12 million grant is funding the Breast Cancer Genetic Study in African Ancestry Populations. The study will have researchers comparing the genomes of 20,000 black women with breast cancer to 20,000 genomes of black women without the disease, and then comparing them to those of white women with breast cancer.