Rates for cancer of the esophagus are over 3 times higher among African Americans than Caucasian Americans and the death rate for all males is 4 times that of females. Among college-age African Americans, leukemia is the leading cause of cancer death. While often thought of as a childhood disease, leukemia will strike 10 times more adults than children this year. The death rate for leukemia among African American males of college-age is one and a half times that of their female peers. Their death rate from this cancer is over twice that of African American females.
Testicular cancer represents the most common solid tumors for men of college age.
For college-age African Americans, heart disease is the fifth leading cause of death. The heart disease death rate for African American males is one and a half times greater than that of their female peers and over 2 times greater than that of their male Caucasian American peers. High blood pressure and hypertension contribute to these higher mortality rates from cardiovascular diseases. Nearly twice as many African American males than females have high blood pressure and one and a half times more males have hypertension. Compared to Caucasian Americans, African Americans have moderate high blood pressure twice as often and severe hypertension 3 times as often.