Triple negative breast cancers are twice as common in African-American women compared to white American women

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among American women, claiming the lives of 40,500 in 200. Of those, triple negative breast cancer strikes white women 15%of the time but 30% of African-American women. Research has shown that triple negative breast cancers are even more common in western sub-Saharan African women compared to the proportion of American women where these triple negative breast cancers are seen. They account for about three times the proportion of breast cancers in African women, compared to what is seen in America — hinting that a genetic inheritance might be part of the reason African-American women are disproportionately impacted.