 Health Care |
Health Care |
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Racial disparities in breast cancer persist |
Even as breast cancer deaths decline among Americans, there are significant racial disparities in the mortality rates between Black and white women. |
Black women die at rates 40 percent higher than white women. They are also more likely than white women to be diagnosed with breast cancer under the age of 50 and to get the rare and aggressive triple-negative subtype of the disease. The reasons for the disparities are complicated, involving everything from late diagnoses to doctors dismissing patient symptoms to a lack of representation in cancer cure research. Racial disparities exist in all different kinds of cancer diagnoses, but research has shown they didn't always exist in breast cancer. Only over the last 15 to 20 years has the divergence in mortality begun to appear, and it remains unclear if this is due to one specific reason or a combination of factors. Clinical trials might be able to provide important information about what's behind Black patients' higher mortality rates and how best to treat them — but Black women have been excluded from those trials. Lisa R. Hayes, executive director of Pink-4-Ever Ending Disparities, an organization dedicated to reducing the disparities in breast cancer, said it will take effort from everyone, including patients. But building trust will be a major hurdle, she said. "One of the big elephants in the room is just distrust and fear of the medical system that is not just for clinical trials, but for across many facets of the health environment due to the historical treatment of Black people as it relates to research and access to health care," Hayes said. "That's a challenge that has to be overcome by the system." Read the rest of the story here, and the rest of The Hill's series on breast cancer |
Welcome to The Hill's Health Care newsletter, we're Nathaniel Weixel and Joseph Choi — every week we follow the latest moves on how Washington impacts your health. |
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How policy will be impacting the health care sector this week and beyond: |
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An infant's death has prompted the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to issue a warning to medical professionals about giving probiotics to hospitalized preterm infants. The FDA said that one infant developed sepsis and later died after the infant was given a probiotic while in hospital care. The FDA has previously sent a letter to health care providers advising them on the issue and sent two warning letters to companies for … |
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| Pfizer and BioNTech announced Thursday it would soon begin a Phase 3 trial for its combined flu and COVID-19 mRNA vaccine following “positive” results from its Phase 1/2 study. Phase 1 and 2 trials are meant to evaluate whether a new drug or treatment is both safe and effective. An official for Pfizer said Thursday they were “encouraged” by the results they’ve seen so far with their combined flu … |
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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Thursday the U.S. is ahead of China on artificial intelligence (AI), but he warned that the "gap is narrowing" and the U.S. has to keep pushing ahead. "If we don’t do anything, China's going to get ahead of us," Schumer said during an interview at a Washington Post Live event. "If you talk to our leading experts, whether it’s the [Department of Defense], … |
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Upcoming news themes and events we're watching: |
- The Senate HELP Committee will hold a field hearing Friday in New Brunswick, N.J., on the nursing workforce — which ranking member Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said "raises significant concerns about the proper use of Committee resources" because it seems to promote a strike by nurses at the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital
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Middlemen should work for you, not against you |
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Branch out with a different read from The Hill: |
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FDA warns about giving probiotics to preterm babies after infant death, other injuries |
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning health care providers and the public about injuries and at least one death in premature infants who were given probiotic products in the hospital. The products, which supplement regular feeding and contain live organisms such as bacteria or yeast, can lead to invasive, potentially fatal … | |
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Local and state headlines on health care: |
- NCSHP to vote on weight loss drug coverage today. What you need to know. (The News & Observer)
- Medical school on Cherokee Reservation will soon send doctors to tribal and rural areas (CBS News)
- The Wyoming Department of Health is raising awareness of lead poisoning (Wyoming Public Media)
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Health news we've flagged from other outlets: |
- Republicans delay more than $1 billion in HIV program funding (The Washington Post)
- The health care issue Democrats can't solve: hospital reform (Stat)
- A 'new turning point': Patients could soon have a new shot to protect them from deadly meningitis (CNN)
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Most read stories on The Hill right now: |
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House Republicans on Thursday passed a sprawling partisan energy plan, the first funding bill approved on the floor since the lower chamber ousted … Read more |
| At least 18 people were killed and 13 injured Wednesday night in a mass shooting incident at two locations in Lewiston, Maine, and the suspect remains … Read more |
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Opinions related to health submitted to The Hill: |
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You're all caught up. See you tomorrow! |
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