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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Here is another reason to encourage black men and women to get a colonoscopy -- new research shows they have a higher prevalence of colon polyps than whites do.
Researchers from Portland VA Medical Center looked at how many and where colon polyps sized more than nine millimeters in diameter appeared in black and white patients who had colonoscopy screenings at 67 clinics across the United States.
They found 7.7 percent of blacks and 6.2 percent of whites had one or more polyps bigger than nine millimeters in all age groups in both men and women. And compared with white patients, black men had a 16 percent higher risk of having polyps bigger than nine millimeters while black women had a 62 percent increased odds.
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The study also shows an increased risk in patients older than age 50 as well as a significant increase in risk when patients age 60 to 69 years were compared with those age 50 to 59 years.
The authors say these findings stress how important it is to encourage all black men and women to be screened.
More black patients develop and die from colorectal cancer than white patients. Death rates for black men and women are 38 to 43 percent higher than for white men and women. And blacks are 15.5 to 23 percent more likely to develop the disease. Since 1985, colorectal cancer rates have gone down in whites, but gone up in black men and remained unchanged in black women.
SOURCE: JAMA, 2008;300:1417-1422
The article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
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