The results of a recent study found that non-elderly black women were at greater risk of dying from breast cancer than non-elderly white women. One important reason was the racial disparities in insurance coverage.

The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, looked at white and black women ages 18-64 who were diagnosed with breast cancer between 2004 and 2013. The results show that four factors contributed to a significant increase in risk of death in black women versus white women: comorbidities, insurance, tumor characteristics, and treatment.

These factors accounted for 76.3% of the total excess risk of death in black women. Differences in insurance accounted for 37% of the total, nearly half of the disparity and by far the biggest single reason that black women were more likely to have larger and more serious tumors at the time of diagnosis.

With regard to the insurance coverage, black women were much more likely to be uninsured or insured through Medicaid than white women.

You can read the entire study here:

[Factors That Contributed to Black-White Disparities in Survival Among Nonelderly Women With Breast Cancer Between 2004 and 2013](http://ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/JCO.2017.73.7932?utm_source=STAT+Newsletters&utm_campaign=549956e784-MR&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8cab1d7961-549956e784-149951437&)