Common Blood Test May Miss Ovarian Cancer In Some Black And Native American Patients, Study Finds

The AP (3/20, Johnson) reports, “A common blood test may miss ovarian cancer in some Black and Native American patients, delaying their treatment, a new study finds.” Investigators “analyzed data from more than 200,000 women with ovarian cancer from 2004 through 2020 who’d had a CA-125 blood test.” The data indicated that “Black and Native American patients were 23% less likely to have an elevated CA-125 level at ovarian cancer diagnosis compared with white patients, suggesting the current thresholds are set too high.” The investigators “also found that patients with false negative results started chemotherapy on average nine days later than patients with elevated levels.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.