Dr. Eakin on Racial Disparities in Uterine Cancer

Cortney Eakin, MD, patient-center outcomes research fellow, Gynecologic Oncology, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), discusses racial disparities and histology trends in uterine cancer.

It was found that although the rate of uterine cancer is not significantly increasing in White women, it is increasing by about 2.5% every year in Black women, Eakin says. Additionally, Black women are developing higher-risk cancers vs grade I endometrioid tumors, Eakin explains. Moreover, when looking at obesity trends, higher rates of obesity were observed in Black women compared with White women, Eakin adds.

Overall, the main finding of the research, which was presented during the SGO 2022 Winter Meeting, was that Black women were significantly more impacted by high-risk uterine cancers compared with White women, and the number is increasing at a high rate, Eakin continues. Moreover, type 2 cancers are increasing by about 4% annually, whereas serous carcinomas are increasing at more than 6% annually and has been for about 20 years, Eakin explains. If this trend continues over the next 10 years, Black women will be almost 3 times as likely to develop high-risk uterine cancer compared with low-risk disease, Eakin says. 

Additional research is needed to begin to close these racial disparities, Eakin concludes.