Blacks at Greater Risk of Precancerous Colon Polyps

Sept. 24 -- TUESDAY, Sept. 23 (HealthDay News) -- Black people undergoing colon cancer screening are more likely to have large precancerous polyps than are whites.

Black men had a 16 percent increased risk of polyps more than 9 millimeters (mm) in size than white men. And the difference in women was even more striking with black women having 62 percent higher odds of a 9 mm or larger polyp, according to new research.

"We've known for a long time that colon cancer is more common in blacks than in whites, and that blacks are more likely to die from colon cancer than whites," said the study's lead author, Dr. David A. Lieberman, a professor of medicine and chief of gastroenterology at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland.

"Previous studies have suggested these differences may be from a lack of access to health care, or a failure of doctors to recommend screening, or a failure of the patients to follow through on screening. But, since we took a look at patients who were already getting screening exams, access and adherence weren't an issue, and we found that black men and women had more serious polyps," Lieberman said.

The good news, he added, is that "many colon cancers can be prevented with screening," and this study shows that blacks may stand to benefit even more from colon cancer screening than whites.

Results of the study were published in the Sept. 24 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The death rates for colon cancer are about 40 percent higher in blacks than in whites, according to background information in the study. And, the disease incidence rate is between 15 percent and 23 percent higher for blacks.

The new study included 5,464 blacks and 80,061 whites who had undergone screening colonoscopy in 67 different centers across the United States. Of that group, the researchers found 422 blacks (7.7 percent) had one or more polyps that were larger than 9 mm. Among whites, almost 5,000 (6.2 percent) had one or more polyps of that size. Removing large colon polyps is important, because they are likely to turn into colon cancer.