WASHINGTON - A groundbreaking study released Tuesday shows African Americans are significantly more likely to die from certain cancers than other races.

And contradictory to what many doctors previously believed, the research says poverty or inferior healthcare is not to blame.

The study found African Americans are more likely to die from three gender-specific cancers: breast, ovarian and prostate.

And this has some doctors asking why?

When Sandra Lovelace was diagnosed with breast cancer six years ago, she was concerned.

"You hear the diagnosis and everything just shuts down," she said.

After all, she has a troubling family history of breast cancer.

"My mother and grandmother were also diagnosed with cancer at an early age and they both died," Lovelace said.

A first-of-its-kind study suggests Lovelace is lucky to be alive.

Researchers followed more than 19,000 patients for at least ten years, and found African Americans are 21- to 61-percent more likely than other groups to die from breast, ovarian and prostate cancers -- all gender-specific cancers.

"What they're implying is that being African American is worse for you in terms of surviving cancer," said Dr. Elmer Huerta, a cancer prevention specialist.

Researchers say the difference is not due to poverty or inferior healthcare, because all of the patients received the same treatment, and socioeconomic factors were eliminated.

But Washington Hospital Center's Dr. Elmer Huerta disagrees, saying those factors could have played a part before the patients began the study.

"All these years of being raised in country with disparities, that is probably what is giving them the worst types of cancer and that's why they are dying earlier," Dr. Huerta said.

However, the study's researchers suggest African Americans may have inherited genetic variations that control metabolism of drugs and hormones differently than other races.

Lovelace is now cancer free and dedicated to helping other patients seek treatment early, so they, too, can be survivors.

"It's not always a death sentence," she said. "It's something that can make you stronger, and it's made me stronger,"

There is also good news. Researchers found for most common cancers, including lung and colon cancer and leukemia and lymphoma, African Americans have the same survival rates as other races.

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