Endometrial cancer is now the most common gynecologic malignancy in the United States, and it is the only one with rising incidence and mortality. Yet the burden of death falls disproportionately on Black women, revealing stark racial health disparities that persist across diagnosis, treatment, and survival.
Nearly 70,000 cases of endometrial cancer are expected in 2025, with about 14,000 deaths nationwide. Although Black and White women develop the disease at similar rates, Black women are twice as likely to die from it. Five-year survival illustrates the divide: 63% for Black women compared with 84% for White women. Bhavana Pothuri, MD, MS, a gynecologic oncologist at NYU Langone Health, said these gaps reflect more than biology and point to systemic failures in care delivery.
Black women are more often diagnosed at later stages and with aggressive tumor types such as clear-cell and serous carcinomas. They are also less likely to receive timely, optimal treatment. Delays in surgery, limited access to minimally invasive procedures, lower rates of lymph node evaluation, and reduced use of adjuvant radiation therapy all contribute to poorer outcomes.
Clinical trial access further deepens inequities. Black patients make up about 15% of people with cancer but account for only 4% to 6% of trial participants. Hispanic patients face similar underrepresentation. Pothuri pointed to clinician bias, patient distrust, financial barriers, language differences, and restrictive trial designs as obstacles that allow disparities to persist.
Disparities extend beyond treatment alone. Pothuri emphasized that gaps can appear at every step, from recognizing symptoms to diagnosis, follow-up care, and survivorship. Addressing these failures, she said, is essential to improving outcomes and ensuring that advances in endometrial cancer care reach all patients equally.
See: “Urgent Call to Close Equity Gaps in Endometrial Cancer Care” (September 4, 2025)
