Jamaican breast surgical oncologist, Dr. Jason Copeland says that Jamaican women are being diagnosed with breast cancer at a significantly younger average age than women in the United States.
Age of diagnosis: A disturbing contrast
During the recent inauguration of the ICWI/Jamaica Reach to Recovery’s (JR2R) Pink Run, Dr. Copeland disclosed that Jamaican women face a diagnosis, on average, at 54 years old.
This is notably younger than the average diagnosis age in the US, which is in the 60s.
Apart from the age difference in diagnoses, Dr. Copeland also drew attention to the nature of the disease.
He noted that Jamaican women are more frequently diagnosed with aggressive forms of breast cancer compared to women in other regions.
More on Dr. Jason Copeland
Elevated mortality rates: A grim reality
Dr. Copeland revealed that the odds of succumbing to breast cancer for Jamaican women are two to three times higher than their counterparts in Western Europe and North America.
“While breast cancer rates are now decreasing in North America and Western Europe, they continue to rise in Jamaica,” he said.
Pink Run
The Pink Run initiative seeks to amass $10 million in support of the breast cancer division of JR2R, under the umbrella of the Jamaica Cancer Society.
This endeavor underlines the urgency of addressing and potentially rectifying these unsettling disparities in cancer care and diagnosis.
