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Mike Mitka

JAMA. 2002;287:2645.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

African Americans living in poverty are at greater risk than the general population of dying from colon cancer—even though the overall mortality rate for the disease is falling, said researchers in the May 1 issue of Cancer.

Investigators at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University reviewed 615 patients treated for colorectal cancer at New York City's Harlem Hospital from 1973 to 1992. Of these patients, 97% were African American and almost all were impoverished. The 5-year relative survival rate for these patients was 19.7%—substantially lower than the national average for the same period. In comparison, the 5-year survival rate was 52.4% in 1992 for all African American patients and 61.5% for all Americans.

The researchers attribute the low survival rate to the late stage of the disease at the time of presentation: all of those treated at Harlem Hospital had disease symptoms, an unusual finding . . . [Full Text of this Article]