Women see an increase in cancer incidence as the proportion of men decreases: Report
According to the American Cancer Society, women are seeing an increase in cancer incidence while experiencing a decline in cancer diagnosis.
Straight Arrow News
Tamron Little was 21 years old and was pregnant with her first child. During daily ultrasound, doctors found what they suspected of as a fibroid tumor.
Little’s tumor was not tested or treated – the doctor told her that this type of tumor is common among black women and would resolve on its own, but they were wrong.
Five months after giving birth, she was diagnosed with abdominal mesothelioma. Abdominal mesothelioma is a rare and aggressive cancer that affects the lining of the abdomen, and most often occurs after asbestos exposure.
Her misdiagnosis delayed treatment and she was given 18 months when she was beginning her journey as a new mother.
Little, now 39 years old, is survived by contributors to the Mesoterioma Center at asbestos.com. However, her misdiagnosis caused distrust in the healthcare system. A 2023 survey published by BMJ Quality and Safety found that in the United States, misdiagnosed illness kills or negates about 795,000 people each year. In a survey of 50 cancer survivors across the United States who were misdiagnosed in July 2024, 92% said misdiagnosis hurt their health, 64% said treatment was delayed, and 56% said cancer had progressed into the later stages.
“Not a million years” may be cancer
When Little’s tumor was first discovered and misidentified as a uterine fibroid, she shared the news with her family. Her mom told her it was okay. She had them too. Her aunt, who also had uterine fibroids, said, “It’s just something you live with.”
Instead, her symptoms did not attribute her symptoms to her first pregnancy, even when she was severely anemia.
“I was still thinking, ‘OK, pregnancy is cruel,'” she says.
Her anemia became so severe that she dropped out of college and returned home. After she gave birth to her son, her Odgin placed her in birth control in an attempt to shrink a suspected fibroid tumor.
After several months, daily ultrasounds showed that the tumor was growing larger. That was the first time cancer had crossed Little’s heart.
“At that moment I asked the doctor, ‘I know I’m saying this is a fibre tumor. Could this be cancer?” she says.
The doctor reassured her: “No, not a million years,” she recalls. “You’re healthy and for women of childbirth age, uterine fibroids are very common.”
However, with caution, the doctor decided to remove the tumor. Finally, she was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma.
“I saw my family and their world was just crushed,” she says. “That’s when I was in the storm.”
They called for a grief counselor. Few people were given an 18-month prognosis to live in. She was in shock. All she wanted to do was hold the baby.
“I went there and came out with a cancer diagnosis of cancer I had never heard of,” she recalls, ‘Yeah, this is the routine procedure for getting uterine fibroid tumors.’
Her doctor had no treatment plans. She searched for second opinions and discovered a two-stage procedure in which high-dose chemotherapy was inserted directly into the abdomen, one of the few East Coast doctors who specialized in HIPEC (high peritoneal chemotherapy).
Black women are more likely to die from multiple cancers despite different incidence rates
Black women are at a higher risk of death than their white counterparts when it is studied at length for certain cancers, such as breast and cervical cancer.
In a 2022 survey of 50 black women who experienced discrimination in a medical setting, 94% of participants felt they were being served during their medical visits, while 92% believed they were not being “really asked.”
In 2025, an estimated 319,750 people were diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States, and an estimated 42,680 people died from the disease. Although there has been a 44% overall decline in breast cancer deaths since 1989, the mortality gap between black and white women remains.
Black women have a 4% lower incidence of breast cancer compared to white women, but the death rate is 40% higher, according to the American Cancer Society. And despite differences in lifetime incidence rates, black women are more likely to develop breast cancer than white women before age 45, but less likely between age 60 and 84 – black women are more likely to die of breast cancer at any age.
Black women also have higher incidence and mortality rates of cervical cancer compared to white women. The 5-year survival rate (56%) is 10% lower than the national average. Although early diagnosis is important in treatment, white women are twice as likely to be screened for cervical cancer than black women.
Delayed diagnosis can further hinder the care patients receive.
“It’s a very disappointing thing,” Little said of her misdiagnosis. “But that’s something I’ve experienced many times as a woman of colour.”
Misdiagnosis leads to reduced trust in the healthcare system
From the study of Tuskegee syphilis to the forced sterilization of black women throughout the 20th century, racial-based medical malpractice is well documented in US history. In a 2024 survey, 58% of the black women surveyed believed their healthcare system was “designed to hold back black people.”
Although she barely survived, her trust in the healthcare system waned. Eight years later, when it comes to choosing a doctor, she is still “very strategic” and sets high expectations for their standard of care.
“When I asked about my platelet count, some doctors said, ‘It’s known that black women have lower platelet counts than white women,'” she says, referring to the dismissed anemia. “I’m not going to take that for an answer.”
Little’s family is now dependent on her. When her grandma was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2023, few were placed in faceTime with her doctors to ask “the right questions.”
“I can imagine other counterparts, women of color. “You have the right to be a patient who respectfully opposes your doctor, and you have the right to throw those expectations ahead of time.”
