United States: The results of routine blood tests miss ovarian cancer diagnosis in some Black and Native American patients, according to a current research study.
Medical tests have become the current manifestation of healthcare disparities. Medical researchers seek to discover biases that exist in the field of medicine.
More about the news
Trump-era political pressure combined with federal inspections of research grants has threatened scientific studies that focus on diversity and inclusion because universities attempt to comply with presidential executive orders, AP News reported.
Among all ethnic groups, Native American women experience the most frequent cases of ovarian cancer. Black women diagnosed with ovarian cancer demonstrate diminished chances of survival than white women who have this cancer.
Identifying ovarian cancer at an early stage produces improved potential outcomes for survival. Medical experts at the National Cancer Institute backed the new study, which appeared in the JAMA Network Open on Thursday.
The study evaluated a blood marker test called CA-125. Physicians employ this blood test to determine whether they should send a woman with an uncertain lump to a cancer expert.
What have the experts observed?
The analysis of early-stage evaluations by doctors depends heavily on test results, which require clear racial and ethnic interpretation, according to Dr. Shannon Westin at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, who did not contribute to the research.
As Westin noted, “This is a perfect example of work that absolutely needed to be stratified based on race and ethnicity,” AP News reported.
No one has identified the cause for which the screening test produces inconsistent results between different population groups.
A harmless genetic variation present among populations of African, Caribbean, Middle Eastern, and West Indian descent seems to play a role in how the test functions.
Research on the test from the 1980s did not track race data, although most participants identified as members of the white population.
Dr. Anna Jo Smith from the Pennsylvania University School of Medicine illustrates that the test shows inaccuracies when targeting white women.
“But if we have worse performance in certain groups, then we may be further contributing to disparities in referral, disparities in treatment, and ultimately, we may be contributing to the lower survival in Black women with ovarian cancer,” Smith added.