According to Dr. Polite, the strength of the report is that it highlights that colorectal cancer death disparities may not have to be as large as they are, and that there are places in the United States where the differences by race or education are much smaller.
“For example, among non-Hispanic blacks with the lowest educational level, the neighboring states of New Jersey and New York had death rates of 16.3 versus 12.9,” he writes. “Similarly, Alabama and Texas had death rates of 20.3 and 21.5, respectively, compared with North Carolina, with a death rate of 14.5. Among non-Hispanic whites, Delaware had a colorectal cancer death rate for the lowest education group of 7.2, compared with neighboring Pennsylvania, with death rate of 10.9.”
New York had the lowest death rate among blacks with the lowest level of education, and according to Mr. Polite, this was largely due to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s multipronged initiative to combat colorectal cancer, including a public education campaign, an open-access colonoscopy referral system and patient navigation.
“The major finding of this study, however, remains unaltered: If you are black or have low educational attainment, where you live in the United States determines how likely you are to die as a result of colorectal cancer. That is an experiment that has to end in the 21st-century United States,” he writes.
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