{"id":216354,"date":"2024-03-23T11:15:58","date_gmt":"2024-03-23T11:15:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/23\/does-breast-cancer-risk-assessment-tool-bcrat-work-for-biracial-women\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T17:20:02","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T17:20:02","slug":"does-breast-cancer-risk-assessment-tool-bcrat-work-for-biracial-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/23\/does-breast-cancer-risk-assessment-tool-bcrat-work-for-biracial-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool (BCRAT) work for biracial women?"},"content":{"rendered":"

[ad_1]
\n<\/p>\n

Google searches for \u201cbreast cancer risk assessment\u201d soared last week when actress Olivia Munn shared on Instagram<\/a> that her OB\/GYN had used the tool to predict her likelihood of developing the disease and \u201csaved my life.\u201d The 43-year-old was diagnosed with luminal B breast cancer<\/a> two months after receiving a normal mammogram.<\/p>\n

\n

The Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool (BCRAT)<\/a> is an online calculator designed to predict a woman\u2019s risk of developing invasive breast cancer<\/a> in both the short term, within five years, and their lifetime, up to age 90.<\/p>\n

Using components of your medical history, such as your age at the time of your first menstrual period and how many of your first-degree relatives have had breast cancer, the tool is supposed to calculate your risk in about five minutes. It\u2019s available for free on the National Cancer Institute (NCI) website but is intended for health professionals. Still, if you\u2019re as curious as I am, you couldn\u2019t resist completing the quiz-like form yourself.<\/p>\n

Turns out it was a fool\u2019s errand\u2014the BCRAT wasn\u2019t designed for people like me. Or Munn, for that matter.<\/p>\n

In the demographics section, the assessment asks, \u201cWhat is the patient\u2019s race\/ethnicity?\u201d There were six options in the dropdown menu, in this order: \u201cWhite,\u201d \u201cAfrican American,\u201d \u201cHispana\/Latina,\u201d \u201cAsian American,\u201d \u201cAmerican Indian or Alaskan Native,\u201d and \u201cUnknown.\u201d None of these options alone would do\u2014and I could only pick one.<\/p>\n

I guarantee that if you ask someone who\u2019s bi- or multiracial what it\u2019s like to fill out a form, they\u2019ll have a story for you. I, the daughter of a Black father and a white mother, have my share. Over the decades my options have expanded to such exotic categories as \u201cOther,\u201d \u201cBiracial,\u201d \u201cMultiracial,\u201d \u201cMixed Race,\u201d \u201cSome Other Race,\u201d or \u201cTwo or More Races.\u201d Sometimes I have the luxury of picking two.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s disheartening, but the lack of an appropriate racial\/ethnic category on the BCRAT, however, may have serious consequences.<\/p>\n

\"Young