“In the Department of Defense health care system, all women have the same ability to access health care… A retrospective review of breast cancer cases from 1976 to 1992 was conducted to determine if there were any differences in state at diagnosis between Caucasian and Afro-American females…When access to care is not an issue, there are no racial differences in stage of breast cancer at diagnosis.”

“Although Caucasian women have higher age-adjusted incidence rates of breast cancer than Afro-American women, numerous studies have demonstrated that the latter are more likely to be diagnosed with advanced disease and have lower survival rates.”

“There was no statistically significant difference in stage of presentation between Caucasian and Afro-American females. Caucasians had slightly more Stage I tumors and Afro-Americans had slightly more Stage IIA tumors; Afro-Americans also were younger.”

“One possible explanation for these findings was due to cultural boundaries to screening or seeking access to care.”