Inland Empire Leads State In Breast Cancer Fatalities
LOMA LINDA (CBS) — Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in California and women in certain parts of the state appear to be at a higher risk.
According to the State Department of Public Health, Riverside and San Bernardino counties have been listed as having the highest mortality rate for breast cancer in all of Southern California.
The reasons?
According to Dr. Sharon Lum of Loma Linda University, socioeconomics plays a key role.
She says many women of lower economic means don't get mammograms as often and therefore, their breast cancer is often at a more serious stage at the time of diagnosis.
"I think that probably leads to why these women are dying more frequently of breast cancer than other women," she said.
Greg Mills, reporting for CBS2 and KCAL9, talked with one of Lum's patients, Martha Estrada, who was diagnosed with breast cancer last year.
Estrada lives in the Inland Empire and works at a cancer institute. She admits she knows better but put off her mammogram for a year.
Her biggest worry?
"Leaving my kids. I'm 52 years old so I think that's young," she said.
Dr. Lum says women need to be more aware of what their options are.
"To get physicians and patients educated about what the options are for treating breast cancer equitably throughout our population and I also think it has to do with health policy," Dr. Lum added.
In addition, the Department of Public Health reports that African American women run the greatest risk of dying from breast cancer than any other ethnic group.
