Study: More White Women Diagnosed With Large Breast Tumors

During the 1990s, the proportion of white breast cancer patients diagnosed with unususally large tumors, which are more likely to prove fatal, increased by two percent a year, according to an analysis for the American Cancer Society.

While the reason for this is not clear, researchers speculate it may be linked to both the rise in obesity and an increase during this period in use of hormone replacement therapy.

"The great majority of tumors in white women are small and at a localized stage," said Dr. Michael Thun, senior researcher. "But we were surprised to see there has been an increase in tumors of five centimeters or more."

In the analysis, reported in the journal CA, the researchers said there were 6.3 cases of breast cancer larger than five centimeters for every 100,000 white women in the United States in the year 2000, compared to 5.6 cases in 1992.

Large tumors are about twice as common among black women. In 2000, there were 12 cases of large tumors for every 100,000 black women -- a level that did not change much during the previous decade.

Other Sources:CA