(St. Louis Public Radio) – The St. Louis region has an abundance of breast cancer screening resources. However, a new study from Gateway to Hope, a breast health nonprofit, found that the tools available are largely underutilized, which is fueling disparities in breast cancer outcomes for Black women in St. Louis and St. Louis County.
“Over the last five years, almost half of the women that we’re serving with breast cancer have late stage disease,” said Katie Manga, CEO of the breast health nonprofit. “So we’ve known that something is going on here as it relates to screening rates for some time. Across the whole region even in some of our wealthiest Zip codes our screening rates are still pretty low.”
The region currently has 64 accredited mammography units with advanced 3D technology, but health care worker shortages for specialized radiologists remains an obstacle to fully utilizing the technology. Furthermore, barriers to access such as lack of transportation and childcare, limited appointment availability on evenings and weekends and medical mistrust have led to even more unfavorable outcomes for Black women.
“For a woman living in north county, it can take using public transportation over an hour just to get to a 20-minute mammogram appointment,” Manga said. “That’s a significant barrier, especially for somebody who has to take that time off from work and they don’t have paid sick time.”
According to the study, late-stage diagnoses are substantially more common in largely Black and low-income Zip codes. Black women in those areas are hit the hardest, oftentimes experiencing higher rates of delayed treatment following their cancer diagnosis.
Black women in St. Louis and St. Louis County are also dying of breast cancer at higher rates than white women even though the disease occurs in both at similar rates. The study found that Black women 35 to 44 are roughly four times more likely to die of breast cancer than white women in their age group.
“It’s incredibly important to have those preliminary conversations with your primary health care provider or your OBGYN because exploring your own risk profile is really essential,” said Ashley Holmes, the nonprofit’s chief of research. “Knowing your family history …the more you’re individually knowing your own risk profile and frankly advocating for yourself the better off we are.”
Gateway to Hope said the study is breaking ground as the first of its kind for the region. For the first time, researchers have been able to pinpoint breast cancer screening utilization, late-stage diagnosis and mortality rates based on a person’s Zip code.
“What you can see is an incredibly clear picture that the women in communities where there’s the lowest screening utilization are in fact the most likely to have late-stage diagnosis and mortality,” said Holmes. “While not surprising, this is actually the first time we’ve been able to connect all three of those data points. We have never had the data to count the number of women by geography who are getting screenings.”
The study was in partnership with the St. Louis Department of Health, the St. Louis County Department of Public Health, the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health and the Missouri Foundation for Health.
This story was republished with permission as part of a content-sharing partnership between The St. Louis American and St. Louis Public Radio. To view the original story, visit www.stlpr.org.