Better education about the preventive power of breast cancer screenings might reduce low-income African-American women’s death risk, according to a study published in the Journal of Cancer Education and reported by UPI.

For the study, researchers from Wayne State University’s School of Medicine in Detroit randomly surveyed almost 180 African-American women; all were 40 or older and resided in a high cancer-risk area of Detroit.

Scientists found 35 deaths for every 100,000 African-American women compared with 26 deaths for the same number of white women.

Researchers attributed this disparity to multiple obstacles—including personal, social and clinical barriers—to accessing care and getting information about breast cancer and screenings.

What’s more, scientists found that fewer board-certified doctors worked in lower-income areas, that health care providers who did work in the area were less informed about preventive care such as mammograms, that women were less like to adhere to cancer screening guidelines, and that time constraints limited docs’ attempts to educate patients.

Because it’s well-known that black women are at higher risk of death from breast cancer, researchers suggested that doctors must be more proactive in helping African-American women find care. They recommended that physicians start dialogues with patients, offer them culturally relevant health information and help them find creative solutions to everyday problems that prevent them from accessing care.

To read more about how cancer affects the African-American community and what you can do to lower your risk, click here.