African American men have the highest prostate cancer incidence and mortality rates in the world.

African-American women who develop breast cancer are more likely to die from the disease than white women of the same age.

Survival rates are worse among African-Americans for colon and ovarian cancers as well.

And now a new study from Dana-Farber has found that even when they have equal access to specialized care, blacks with potentially curable lung cancer are about half as likely as whites to undergo surgery that could save their lives.

These findings point to a subtle and complex “communications problem” underlying the inequality, said Christopher Lathan, MD, of Dana-Farber and lead author of the report that is published online by the Journal of Clinical Oncology and will be in the journal’s Jan. 20 print issue.

“Something’s not happening. There was no specific reason that could be found, but there needs to be more attention paid to the doctor-patient interaction.” Full story:

Blacks’ lower rate of lung cancer surgery not just due to access to care

Study suggests racial disparities stem from doctor-patient interaction