NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – High blood pressure accounts for some of the disproportionately higher mortality rates among African American patients with breast cancer compared with Caucasian patients, according to an article in the International Journal of Cancer for March 1.

To examine comorbidities that may be involved in this disparity, Dr. Dejana Braithwaite at the University of California, San Francisco, and co-investigators analyzed data for women with invasive breast cancer treated at Kaiser Permanente in Northern California between 1973 and 1986 and followed through 1999. There were 416 African-American patients and 838 white patients.

During mean follow-up of 8.9 years, overall mortality was 39.7% among the black women and 33.3% among the white women (p = 0.03). Corresponding breast cancer-specific mortality was 28.6% and 21.6% (p < 0.01). African-Americans also had higher rates of hypertension (43.3% vs 28.3%, p < 0.0001).

After controlling for tumor characteristics, breast cancer treatment, age, and race, hypertension was significantly associated with all-cause mortality (hazard ratio 1.33).