Disparities in breast cancer characteristics and outcomes by race/ethnicity - PubMed (original) (raw)

Disparities in breast cancer characteristics and outcomes by race/ethnicity

Siew Loon Ooi et al. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2011 Jun.

Abstract

Disparities in breast cancer stage and mortality by race/ethnicity in the United States are persistent and well known. However, few studies have assessed differences across racial/ethnic subgroups of women broadly defined as Hispanic, Asian, or Pacific Islander, particularly using more recent data. Using data from 17 population-based cancer registries in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program, we evaluated the relationships between race/ethnicity and breast cancer stage, hormone receptor status, treatment, and mortality. The cohort consisted of 229,594 women 40-79 years of age diagnosed with invasive breast carcinoma between January 2000 and December 2006, including 176,094 non-Hispanic whites, 20,486 Blacks, 15,835 Hispanic whites, 14,951 Asians, 1,224 Pacific Islanders, and 1,004 American Indians/Alaska Natives. With respect to statistically significant findings, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian Indian/Pakistani, Black, Filipino, Hawaiian, Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Samoan women had 1.3-7.1-fold higher odds of presenting with stage IV breast cancer compared to non-Hispanic white women. Almost all groups were more likely to be diagnosed with estrogen receptor-negative/progesterone receptor-negative (ER-/PR-) disease with Black and Puerto Rican women having the highest odds ratios (2.4 and 1.9-fold increases, respectively) compared to non-Hispanic whites. Lastly, Black, Hawaiian, Puerto Rican, and Samoan patients had 1.5-1.8-fold elevated risks of breast cancer-specific mortality. Breast cancer disparities persist by race/ethnicity, though there is substantial variation within subgroups of women broadly defined as Hispanic or Asian. Targeted, multi-pronged interventions that are culturally appropriate may be important means of reducing the magnitudes of these disparities.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Ashing-Giwa KT, Gonzalez P, Lim JW, Chung C, Paz B, Somlo G, Wakabayashi MT. Diagnostic and therapeutic delays among a multiethnic sample of breast and cervical cancer survivors. Cancer. 2010;116:3195–3204. - PubMed
    1. Ballard-Barbash R, Potosky AL, Harlan LC, Nayfield SG, Kessler LG. Factors associated with surgical and radiation therapy for early stage breast cancer in older women. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1996;88:716–726. - PubMed
    1. Berz JP, Johnston K, Backus B, Doros G, Rose AJ, Pierre S, Battaglia TA. The influence of black race on treatment and mortality for early-stage breast cancer. Med Care. 2009;47:986–992. - PubMed
    1. Braun KL, Fong M, Gotay CC, Chong CD. Ethnic differences in breast cancer in Hawai'i: age, stage, hormone receptor status, and survival. Pac Health Dialog. 2004;11:146–153. - PubMed
    1. Chu QD, Smith MH, Williams M, Panu L, Johnson LW, Shi R, Li BD, Glass J. Race/Ethnicity has no effect on outcome for breast cancer patients treated at an academic center with a public hospital. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2009;18:2157–2161. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

LinkOut - more resources