In this issue
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Q. & A. with dynamic volunteer MeLissa Olson

Calls to Quitline emphasize demand for smokefree air in Michigan

Release of Cancer Facts and Figures
for African Americans 2009-2010

National Volunteer Week

Successful murder mystery fundraiser

Minority Cancer Awareness Quiz
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VOICES photo and video contest!

Powerful Choices podcast

VOICES in the kitchen

GLO Grads

Release of Cancer Facts and Figures for African Americans 2009-2010
Cancer Facts & Figures for African Americans 2009-2010 presents statistics on cancer incidence, mortality, survival, and risk factors for cancer among people who describe themselves as African American or black (recognizing the enormous diversity within the African American population and the limitations of characterizing individuals by race or ethnicity without taking into consideration the many social or economic factors that can affect cancer risk).

Accumulating evidence suggests that modifiable rather than inherited factors associated with race account for most disparities related to cancer. The report finds:

• While death rates from cancer continue to drop among African Americans, the group continues to be diagnosed at more advanced stages and have lower survival rates at each stage of diagnosis compared to whites for most cancer sites.
• African Americans have the highest death rate and shortest survival of any racial and ethnic group in the U.S. for most cancers.
• The causes of these inequalities are complex and are predominantly thought to reflect social and economic disparities as opposed to biologic differences associated with race. These include inequalities in work, wealth, income, education, housing and overall standard of living, barriers to high-quality health care, and racial discrimination.
• Although the overall racial disparity in cancer death rates is decreasing, in 2005 the death rate for all cancers combined continued to be 33 percent higher in African American men and 16 percent higher in African American women than in white men and women, respectively.
• Death rates for all cancers combined have decreased faster in African American men than white men, primarily because of rapid declines in the death rates from lung and prostate cancers.
• While overall cancer death rates have also decreased among African American women, they are dropping at a slower rate than among white women. The slower decline in African American women is largely due to smaller decreases in breast and colorectal cancer death rates.
• According to the most recent data (2005-2006) from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 76 percent of African Americans adults are overweight and 46 percent are obese, compared to 66 percent and 33 percent, respectively, of whites.
• Only half of African American women aged 40 and older reported getting a mammogram within the past year, slightly less than the 53 percent of whites. Forty percent of African Americans reported a recent colorectal cancer screening test in 2005 compared to 50 percent of whites.
• African American boys and girls, among whom smoking rates have been decreasing since the late 1990s, have lower smoking rates than any other racial/ethnic group.

The report also includes highlights of American Cancer Society efforts to save lives and eliminate disparities in cancer morbidity and mortality. In 2006, the American Cancer Society built on a long history of research and programs designed to understand and describe the impact of health disparities, and to implement and advocate for evidence-based strategies to reduce or eliminate them, by launching an ambitious effort to address inequities in cancer prevention services, access to care, incidence, and mortality.

Since 1999, the American Cancer Society has funded 106 studies totaling $87 million devoted to the poor and medically underserved. Forty-two percent of this research focuses on the African American population, encompassing the cancer continuum from helping people stay well through prevention efforts to helping people get well through programs and hands-on support for survivors. In addition, the Society’s internal research departments focus substantial resources on disparities research.

For more information on the report, visit www.cancer.org/statistics.