Gallbladder cancer rates have been stable or declining for most Americans over the last two decades, but cases have steadily risen among Blacks, with growing numbers not being diagnosed until later stages, according to a study scheduled for presentation at Digestive Disease Week ® (DDW) 2024. Gallbladder cancer diagnosis at late stage can be highly detrimental. This could be due to a lack of timely access to healthcare leading to delayed diagnosis.
Non-Hispanic Blacks have been lacking in improvement in the mortality of gallbladder cancer compared to other racial and ethnic groups, who experienced declining mortality." Yazan Abboud, MD, lead author, internal medicine resident at Rutgers University New Jersey Medical School Researchers analyzed records for 76,873 patients diagnosed with gallbladder cancer from 2001 to 2020 in the U.S.
Cancer Statistics database, which covers nearly 98% of the U.S. population.
The study found gallbladder cancer incidence rates were stable among whites and declined at an average annual rate of .64% among Hispanics, while rates rose for non-Hispanic Blacks. Overall cancer rates among Blacks increased by an average of 1.
03% per year, and the incidence of late-stage tumors increased at an average annual rate of 2.7%. Gallbladder cancer is one of the most aggressive malignancies, with a five-year survival rate of 19%, and is most often diagnosed at later stages, with 41.
3% of cancers in the study found in late stages, including 43.7% of cancers in .