AACR: Black women have denser breast tissue than white women

Black women have greater breast tissue density than white women, according to a presentation at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting in Philadelphia.

Anne Marie McCarthy, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, and colleagues found that black women had an absolute area density of 40.1 cm², compared with 33.1 cm² in white women. Black women also had higher volumetric density, at 187.2 cm³, compared with 181.6 cm³ in white women. McCarthy and colleagues obtained these results after adjusting for other factors associated with breast density, such as age, body mass index, hormone therapy, and reproductive factors.

The study included 1,589 black/African-American women and 1,256 white women who underwent screening mammography at the University of Pennsylvania between 2010 and 2011. McCarthy's group used automated computer algorithms to determine both the conventional 2D breast density measurement and a 3D volumetric estimate of breast density.