Endometrial Cancer: A Qualitative Study

In the United States, endometrial cancer is the most common gynecologic cancer. The facts are in place to say that obesity is a well-established risk factor for endometrial cancer. Obesity and endometrial cancer have been studied over the years, but there seems to be gap in the research on the effects of different races and the development of endometrial cancer. A research question that represents a gap in the current research is what are the contributing factors of increased incidents of endometrial cancer in Caucasian verse African American women?
Clinical Relevance
Most of the time research studies will group obese women into one category instead of splitting the females into two separate groups based on their race. From past research
A quantitative approach will be able to produce hard numbers to better assess and examine the data. Hard numbers and data are needed to really figure out actual contributing factors. If a qualitative approach was taken, then this would lead to more feelings and subjective data about endometrial cancer, which is not needed for this study. Since Caucasian and African American females will need to be studied differently, two studies will need to happen and be split by race. The study would be observational over a certain period of years to see what factors may increase the likelihood of more Caucasian females being diagnosed with endometrial cancer. The sample that will be obtained will be females in the age range of 30-40 that are obese, defined by a body mass index (BMI) of >30. The study will aim to gain a sample of size of 100 participants from each race, but more participants will be accepted depending on the response. Participants will be recruited through local physician offices and by an online advertisement. Once the person meets the criteria of Caucasian or African American race and has a BMI of >30, then consent will be obtained for participation in the
What are missing in the research are the contributing factors that lead to more Caucasian women being diagnosed with endometrial cancer compared to African American females. The factors are unknown due to the lack of studies that actually compare and contrast the differences between these two races. Most studies have the majority of Caucasian participants, but are deficient in African American subjects. We now know that being obese is a risk factor for endometrial cancer, but what if more was known about not just one’s weight, but other factors or genes that may also be contributing to the cancer. Knowing the contributing factors can help providers to better close the gap and incorporate individualized education based on contributing factors so maybe endometrial cancer be prevented for certain women in the